Syrian rebels started their withdrawal from the heart of Homs on Wednesday.<br /> <br />They loaded onto two busses, the first of many hundreds of fighters that will be evacuated out of the besieged old city.<br /> <br />Video posted online that Reuters can't independently verify purports to show the fighters leave.<br /> <br />The evacuation was agreed to between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad, and overseen by the U.N.<br /> <br />It will be carefully synchronized with aid deliveries into the city and the release of some rebel-held captives in two northern Shiite towns.<br /> <br />Activists say the first to leave were some 600 wounded fighters and their civilian relatives.<br /> <br />They reportedly headed to rebel-held areas north of Homs province.<br /> <br />Homs was an early center of the rebel revolt against Assad.<br /> <br />The mostly Sunni fighters had held out in the old center of the city for more than a year.<br /> <br />They were undersupplied, outgunned and faced bombardment by Assad's forces.
