The first group of gunmen leave al-Waer neighborhood

Homs – Governor of Homs Talal al-Barazi announced on Wednesday that the first group of gunmen started leaving al-Waer neighborhood, in an implementation of the settlement agreement reached earlier this month by the committees concerned with settling the situation in the neighborhood.

The gunmen’s departure, carried out within the agreement that is aimed at clearing al-Waer of gunmen and weapons, is being implemented under the patronage of the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), SANA reported.

 Within the first stage of the agreement, the gunmen who are willing to leave will have to hand over their “medium and heavy weapons” to the side specified by the committees and will be allowed to keep only “light weapons”, according to a statement by al-Barazi on Tuesday.

He noted that during the second stage of the settlement, the gunmen willing to go back to their normal lives will have their legal status settled, noting that all state institutions will go back to work in the neighborhood in the course of the second and third stages.

He added that by the end of the third stage, al-Waer neighborhood will be clear of weapons and gunmen and under the full control of the state, according to the Governor.

A similar agreement to the one at hand was reached in 2014, by which life mostly returned to normal in Old City after it was cleared of weapons and gunmen.