An injured Muhammed Ibrahim, 18, a singer in the region of Hama, Syria, lies in a hospital in Antakya, Turkey, on Thursday. He was struck by a shell fired by the Syrian Army. (AP)

BEIRUT/DAMASCUS: Weary Syrian rebels left a shattered district of Homs yesterday after a 26-day military siege aimed at crushing a symbol of the almost yearlong revolt against President Bashar Assad.

Activists said a few fighters had stayed on in Baba Amro, which has endured weeks of shelling, sniper fire and privation, to cover the “tactical withdrawal” of their comrades.

“The Free Syrian Army and all the other fighters have left Baba Amro, they pulled out,” one activist said from Homs. A statement in the name of the fighters urged the International Committee of the Red Cross and other humanitarian groups to enter Baba Amro and bring aid to 4,000 civilians who had stayed in their destroyed houses.

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