Syrian army, militants call truce near Homs

Syrian army forces and opposition insurgents have agreed to call a truce in a militant-held area near the central city of Homs, activists said. The truce will enable the two sides to negotiate an agreement for the armed groups to retreat from al-Waar and leave the control of the area to the army forces, two activists, under assumed names of Thaer Khalidiya and Abu Yasin al-Homsi, said on Saturday, Al-Alam reported. Al-Waar is an area across the Orontes River from Homs. According to the activists, the truce came into effect on Friday. Following a deal between Syrian government and the foreign-backed insurgents in early May, armed groups retreated from the city and left it to the government. Homs was the epicenter of the ongoing war in Syria and was considered to be one of the main bastions of armed insurgent groups.