DAMASCUS: The Syrian government and rebels have reached a deal under which opposition fighters besieged in the central city of Homs will withdraw during a cease-fire, an NGO said on Friday.

The accord will mean all but one district of the city, once dubbed the “capital of the revolution,” will be back in government control.

In Hama province, further north, 20 people, including 12 children were killed in two bombings targeting towns that are majority Alawite, the religious community to which President Bashar Assad belongs.

And Al-Qaeda Ayman Al-Zawahiri called in a new audio recording for the group’s Syrian wing to end fighting with the rival jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

In Homs, a cease-fire was in place Friday in the Old City and several neighboring rebel-held districts, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“A truce began on Friday in the Old City of Homs and surrounding areas, where there has been fierce fighting between the regime and rebels, with the goal of applying a deal reached between the sides,” the Britain-based monitoring group said.

“The deal stipulates a cease-fire and the withdrawal of the rebels in the Old City, which has been under siege for two years, to the north of Homs province.

“As a result of the deal, the army will retake control of these areas,” it added.

The deal was confirmed by an activist on the ground in Homs.

“There is a truce agreement with safe exit for the rebels,” Thaer Al-Khalidiyeh told AFP by Internet, adding that the withdrawal had not yet begun.