The Syrian People and their Freedom Fighters Deserve More than the World's Words, They Need Help

A new and deplorable milestone has been reached in the Syrian civil war. Hundreds of Syrian rebels, worn out from a year-long siege, left their last remaining bastions in the heart of the central city of Homs on Wednesday, under a ceasefire deal with government forces, according to opposition activists and the city's governor. The rebellion in the battered city, which was one of the first places to rise up against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, earned it the nickname "the capital of the revolution." Retaking the third largest city in Syria is a major win for al-Assad on multiple levels. Militarily, it solidifies his regime's hold on important territory in central Syria, linking the capital Damascus with regime strongholds along the coast and giving a staging ground to advance against rebel territory further north. Politically, gains on the ground boost al-Assad's hold on power as he seeks to add a further claim of legitimacy in the presidential elections he has set for June 3. According to AP, by early afternoon Wednesday, over 400 fighters had boarded several batches of buses that departed for the north from a police command center on the edge of Homs' rebel-held areas, opposition activists said. Many of the rebels were wounded, and it was unclear how many civilians were among them. A rebel spokesman told AP that the remaining 2,000 soldiers and any civilians would leave the city before the end of the day. According to the deal, the rebels were being taken a few kilometers (miles) north to the rebel held towns of Talbiseh and al-Dar al-Kabira on the northern edge of Homs province. Each rebel fighter was allowed to take a sack of his belongings and his personal weapon. Each bus was permitted one rocket launcher and a machine gun under the agreement, the rebel spokesman said. He said the rebels had asked for international aid, but none came, adding that the rebels "have lost more than 2,000 martyrs in nearly two years of siege." AP reported that the evacuation was taking place in an organized manner with no violations by either side. Homs governor Talal Barazi confirmed that the rebels had already started leaving the old districts. State TV said regime forces would enter the evacuated neighborhoods once rebels leave entirely. Fighters in the Waer district, just outside Homs' Old City, have so far refused to join the evacuation. But, activists said negotiations were underway for a similar deal there. The evacuation was a bitter day for the rebels who had been dug in inside and around the historic quarters of Homs where they had been under siege for more than a year. Some fighters had said they would rather die than give up the city. Homs, with a prewar population of 1.2 million was among the first to rise up against al-Assad in early 2011 in waves of anti-Assad protests. As Syria's conflict turned into outright civil war, rebels took control of 70% of the city, whose population represents Syria's mix - with a largely pro-rebel Sunni majority and a pro-Assad Alawite minority, along with Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities. In the Syrian civil war, Homs and its historis district became a battleground that left entire blocks and much of its historic quarters in ruins. Thousands of people were killed and almost all its residents have long since fled. Tit-for-tat sectarian killings rose, reflecting the increasingly religious dimension of the civil war. Rebels were slowly pushed back for well over a year, as regime forces besieged rebels in a dozen districts around its ancient bazaars. The siege caused severe shortages of both food and medicine, and heavy regime bombing blasted the rebel-held areas. A first major group - around 1,400 people, including fighters and residents - evacuated earlier this year in a U.N.-mediated operation. But they agreed Friday to the cease-fire deal, leading the way to a final evacuation. While the agreement represents a demoralizing event for opposition forces, it can also be seen as a face-saving deal for both sides. The rebels did not admit defeat, they were permutted to go farther north where rebels still control wide areas of territory, and the al-Assad regime can retake Homs without the loss of more manpower and weapons and can claim it was able to retake the last rebel bastions without spilling more blood. Part of the Homs deal was an agreement that rebels would also release up to 70 pro-regime gunmen and an Iranian woman they hold captive in the northern city of Aleppo, activists said. It was not clear if this included a group of people captured in the coastal province of Latakia, a regime/Hezbollah stronghold, where opposition fighters seized dozens of women and children in an offensive in August. Rebels reportedly also released 15 soldiers they were holding in Aleppo province. ~~~~~ Despite the lack of military help provided by the West to the Syrian rebel forces, they continue to ask for western support. Today, rebel leaders said the insurgents need weapons that could "neutralize" aerial raids by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's air force in order to change the balance of power on the ground and pave the way for a political solution to the crisis. Ahmad al-Jarba, president of Syria's main opposition bloc, spoke in Washington on the day that rebel forces surrendered the important stronghold of Homs. He said the war is not about gaining or losing a city, but about the whole conflict, which has lasted more than three years. Rebels have been asking the US for lethal aid for some time, but the Obama administration has refused, with the explanation that it fears such aid could fall into the hands of terrorists and other militants who have joined the battle but remain outside the opposition forces. Al-Jarba, who plans to meet with President Barack Obama during his visit, thanked the US for its humanitarian aid and political support at the United Nations. He said the Syrian people do not want the US or other countries to send troops or warships, but that opposition forces need weapons that could effectively "neutralize the air force." He called the crisis in Syria "the most dramatic human catastrophe in our modern time" and a tragic "calamity being played out by Assad and his cronies." He said : "The crisis has become more (than) we Syrians can handle," adding that even if the opposition completely controlled Homs, no one would be secure because of al-Assad's air raids. Al-Jarba's trip to Washington comes as the Obama administration is boosting its support for the Syrian Opposition Council. The State Department announced Monday that it would give the opposition's offices in Washington and New York formal diplomatic status and increase non-lethal assistance to the opposition by $27 million. The administration recognized the opposition council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in December 2012, but its US offices had been recognized only as informal liaison bureaus until this week. The Obama administration is considering taking additional steps in the coming days, including the possibility of levying new sanctions on the al-Assad government before the June elections. US sanctions on al-Assad and his associates have had little impact in stemming the bloody civil war that has stretched into a fourth year. More than 150,000 people have been killed n the clashes between rebels and forces loyal to al-Assad, with millions of others displaced by the war. The White House has denounced the upcoming Syrian elections as a farce aimed at giving al-Assad the veneer of legitimacy. Al-Jarba said the international community must take a strong stance now against al-Assad, whom he depicted as a "blood-thirsty tyrant." Al-Assad should not be allowed to run for re- election "over the dead bodies of Syrians." He compared al-Assad's rule to that of North Korea's dynasty. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the words are always the same -- the US is helping, the US rejects the legitimacy of the al-Assad regime, the US supports the Syrian people. But, we must ask when words will be followed by meaningful action. If Barack Obama is afraid of going it alone in helping the Syrian rebels with desperately need anti-aircraft defenses and weapons, he could at least pull together a UN force to carry out the needed aid. The Syrian people and their freedom fighters deserve more than the world's words. They deserve our help.