• Ancient Greek: Ἔμεσα, romanized: Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. (wikipedia.org)
  • Before the Syrian Civil War, Homs was a major industrial centre, and with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third-largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south. (wikipedia.org)
  • Throughout the Islamic era, Muslim dynasties contending for control of Syria sought after Homs due to the city's strategic position in the area. (wikipedia.org)
  • Émesa was shortened to Homs or Hims by its Arab inhabitants, many of whom settled there prior to the Muslim conquest of Syria. (wikipedia.org)
  • For approximately 2,000 years, Homs has served as a key agricultural market, production site and trade center for the villages of northern Syria. (wikipedia.org)
  • Mosque of Khālid ibn al-Walīd in Homs, Syria. (britannica.com)
  • Homs , city, central Syria . (britannica.com)
  • Homs later (1516) passed into Ottoman hands, where it remained, except for a brief period of Egyptian control in the 1830s, until the creation of Syria after World War I . (britannica.com)
  • DAMASCUS, Syria, March 1 (UPI) -- Syrian Army firepower drove insurgents from a key neighborhood in the city of Homs, rebels said Thursday. (upi.com)
  • At Christmas 2015, Brother Alois went to Syria, visiting Latakia and Homs. (taize.fr)
  • Later, during a visit by a Taizé brother to Syria in February 2020, the small community of Jesuit Fathers in Homs launched the idea of organising, together with Taizé, an ecumenical meeting for young people in Syria for the year 2021. (taize.fr)
  • This meeting would take place in Homs, prepared together with the other churches present in this city, and would welcome young Christians from the various regions of Syria, and from different Christian denominations. (taize.fr)
  • About 750 young people from various regions of Syria and belonging to various churches present in Syria flocked to Homs, on a very beautiful sunny day. (taize.fr)
  • Israel carried out an air strike near the city of Homs in western Syria overnight Friday, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported. (israelnationalnews.com)
  • BEIRUT- Residents in rebel-held areas of Homs province in western Syria woke up Thursday to the sound of Syrian regime aircraft overhead. (ibtimes.com)
  • The regime's looming Homs offensive follows a collapse of the ceasefire - which was implemented across several regions in Syria at the end of February - after major opposition groups began a new operation against the Syrian regime in Assad's coastal stronghold of Latakia. (ibtimes.com)
  • U.N. aid workers have started delivering food to tens of thousands of people trapped in a besieged district of Homs city in Syria following negotiations with warring parties, officials said on Friday. (worldbulletin.net)
  • Smoke leaps the air from a building after an airstrike attack in Homs, Syria, on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. (timesofisrael.com)
  • The initial 50 of 150 Arab League monitors were due to arrive in Syria on Monday, and some will go to Homs on Tuesday, a source at the group's headquarters in Cairo told Reuters. (hizb.org.uk)
  • DAMASCUS, Syria - The United Nations and Syria have reached a deal to allow civilians to leave areas of Homs under army siege for more than 18 months, the provincial governor said Thursday. (rappler.com)
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that Russia was expanding an air base in Homs province in western Syria to accommodate its fighter jets, and was already using another, further east, for helicopter sorties. (thehimalayantimes.com)
  • Worthy News ) - Israeli forces struck a site in Homs in central Syria in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to Syrian state TV. (worthynews.com)
  • After multiple reports from Lebanon of loud war planes crossing the country bound for Syria in the last hours, now subsequent unconfirmed reports of large explosions outside Homs, possibly strikes on air bases. (twitchy.com)
  • reports U.S Tomahawk missiles pass over #Lebanon en route to unknown targets in #Syria . (twitchy.com)
  • Markets in northern Homs, like other regions in Syria, are seeing an increase in the prices of foodstuffs and vegetables on a daily basis, in conjunction with the decline in the currency exchange rate, fuel shortages, and rising transport costs. (enabbaladi.net)
  • Arab League peace monitors arrived in the Syrian city of Homs on Tuesday for a first look after tanks were seen leaving the hotbed of anti-government unrest where hundreds have been killed during nine months of military crackdowns on protesters. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • At least 22 people were killed in a double suicide bomb attack at an army checkpoint in the western Syrian city of Homs on Jan. 26, state media said. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • French president Nicolas Sarkozy said that a solution for getting wounded Western reporters out of the besieged Syrian city of Homs was in sight, AFP reports. (warnewsradio.org)
  • Up until a few months ago, Hassan Ali, a 29-year old fabric merchant in the Syrian city of Homs, rarely gave politics much thought. (time.com)
  • BEIRUT - Twin explosions in a government-controlled neighborhood of Syria's Homs city killed at least 16 people and wounded scores more on Saturday, a group monitoring the war and state media said, in an attack claimed by the hardline Islamic State group. (jpost.com)
  • BEIRUT: Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in Syria's Homs province early Sunday, wounding five soldiers, Syrian state media reported. (arabnews.com)
  • It saw attacks using suicide car and vest bombings, and unmanned car bombs, killing at least 140 people in Syria's Homs and Damascus. (aoav.org.uk)
  • Homs began to decline under the Ottomans and only in the 19th century did the city regain its economic importance when its cotton industry boomed. (wikipedia.org)
  • In 1274 BCE, a battle took place between the forces of the Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River near Homs. (wikipedia.org)
  • Syrian forces killed at least 25 people caught in clashes in the opposition-central city of Homs -one of the highest daily death tolls the city has seen in the country's seven-month-old uprising. (thedailybeast.com)
  • He was very impressed by the hospitality he received at a time when the destruction in the city of Homs was terrible to see. (taize.fr)
  • All the young men and women, aged between 18 and 25, were hosted by families in the city of Homs. (taize.fr)
  • In this city, ten parishes took charge of the morning activities, with the participation of the different churches present in Homs: Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Latin Roman, Maronite and Presbyterian. (taize.fr)
  • Video grab shows a Syrian tank driving through the city of Homs on December 26, 2011. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • The blasts come days after the government extended its control of the western city with the implementation of a truce deal in Waer, the last insurgent-held area of Homs. (jpost.com)
  • State news agency SANA, citing military sources, said the strikes had targeted sites in the city of Homs and surrounding countryside. (arabnews.com)
  • Homs city was once dubbed the "capital" of Syria's uprising, which began with anti-government protests in March 2011. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • BEIRUT (AP) - Backed by warplanes, Syrian government troops pushed Thursday into the central districts of the city of Homs in an effort to oust rebels from the country's third largest urban center, activists said. (timesofisrael.com)
  • Regaining full control of Homs would be a psychological blow to the opposition, which considers the city a symbol of Syria's uprising, inspired by other Arab Spring revolts against authoritarian rulers around the Middle East. (timesofisrael.com)
  • A close associate of 'Abd al-Basit Sarut, the militant Badawi al-Mugharbil, more famously known as Abu Ja'far, is also one of the key figures in the revolution in the city of Homs. (warincontext.org)
  • BEIRUT - The director of a Syrian documentary that scooped a top prize at the Sundance film festival says his film pays tribute to the 'steadfastness' of the besieged city of Homs. (asiaone.com)
  • Derki was born in Damascus in 1977, but decided to focus on Homs, Syria's third city, because it was a magnet for activists and protesters in the early days of the uprising that broke out in March 2011. (asiaone.com)
  • Homs has suffered some of the worst destruction throughout the nearly three-year Syrian conflict, and its Old City has been under a suffocating army siege that has led to fatal food shortages. (asiaone.com)
  • Syrian security forces stormed the central city of Homs overnight, a day after the a government-proposed round of talks was boycotted by prominent opposition groups. (trend.az)
  • The Old City districts of central Homs have also suffered near-daily shelling ever since the army blockaded them in June 2012. (rappler.com)
  • Efforts to rescue wounded people from Homs, including the journalists Edith Bouvier and Paul Conroy, are being thwarted by the Syrian army's continuing bombardment of the city, but French president Nicolas Sarkozy claims a solution is in sight. (warnewsradio.org)
  • After a two-day bombardment of Homs city, Syrian troops, backed by Hezbollah irregular forces, have begun a ground attack against the city. (understandingwar.org)
  • Twin suicide bombings hit a Syrian air force compound near Damascus killing dozens of people on Tuesday, monitors said, as rebels took a key town on the road between the capital and second city Aleppo and regime troops stormed a key rebel district of the central city of Homs. (naharnet.com)
  • On the increasingly bloody battlefield, state television said troops entered a rebel district of central city Homs and were "pursuing the remnants of the terrorists" -- the regime's term for rebels. (naharnet.com)
  • The reported seizure came as soldiers moved into the central city of Homs, farther south on the same highway, in a bid to finish off insurgents there and free up forces for battle zones like Aleppo. (naharnet.com)
  • State television, meanwhile, said troops entered the rebel district of Khaldiyeh in the besieged city of Homs. (naharnet.com)
  • Four years have passed since the Sakkas fled Homs, Syria's third biggest city, which became a rebel bastion early in the war that started in 2011. (thelocal.de)
  • Homs is Syria's third largest city, and the country's most religiously diverse. (time.com)
  • The first, the Shayrat air base, is southeast of Homs city, and the second, at al Tayas towards the Islamic State-controlled city of Palmyra, were likely to be used to strike the group in the area, said the Britain-based Observatory, which monitors the war through contacts on the ground. (thehimalayantimes.com)
  • The main components of the 7 May agreement consisted of the evacuation of opposition fighters and civilians from besieged areas of Homs to rebel-held safe havens outside the city, in exchange for the release of captives held within Homs by the opposition and permission for humanitarian supplies to enter two villages near Aleppo that are considered pro-regime and have been under siege by opposition forces for about two years. (jadaliyya.com)
  • Fighting in Homs continued on Thursday with activists warning communication with the area has been cut off. (ibtimes.co.uk)
  • Fighting in Homs has intensified since a double suicide bombing in Damascus on Friday that killed 44 people. (hizb.org.uk)
  • Syrian army warplanes dropped at least five different leaflets in opposition-controlled areas, each one threatening an upcoming offensive in Homs. (ibtimes.com)
  • Nidal, the media liaison for the Homs branch of the Syrian Civil Defense, who declined to give his last name to protect him from regime reprisals, told International Business Times that this wasn't the first time Syrian government forces have dropped paper warnings on the province, urging opposition fighters to surrender. (ibtimes.com)
  • It is a normal thing to be threatened by the regime," said Abu Ahmad, a medical worker in a field hospital in Homs. (ibtimes.com)
  • In Homs, according to the official newspaper al-Watan, there was street to street fighting between the regime army and the rebels. (juancole.com)
  • Homs was the scene of massive street protests against Assad's regime in the first months of the uprising that began in March 2011. (timesofisrael.com)
  • So for those who suffered defeat at Baba 'Amru, the siege of Homs and the town's fall into the hands of the regime, there was the temptation to join with those who seemed to embody the growing strength of the Syrian insurrection, despite the IS's radicalism. (warincontext.org)
  • In recent days, Syria's regime and opposition have been negotiating without success on bringing aid into Homs. (asiaone.com)
  • Thus, the opposition was able to exploit remaining vulnerabilities, particularly by reopening supply lines from Lebanon, in ways that forced the Syrian army back to Homs province, diverting resources from the offensive the regime planned for Aleppo. (understandingwar.org)
  • Many rebel commanders feared that their comrades trapped inside al-Qusayr would be slaughtered in a regime attempt to defeat rebel forces in the Homs countryside conclusively and limit their ability to regroup and stage a counteroffensive. (understandingwar.org)
  • By reopening some supply lines, the rebels were able to maneuver against government positions in ways that threatened the regime's corridor from the coastal area through Homs and into Damascus, upsetting a number of the victories achieved by the regime in its takeover of al-Qusayr. (understandingwar.org)
  • The agreement reached between opposition fighters and the Syrian regime with respect to Homs has solicited an array of speculation as to what it precisely represents. (jadaliyya.com)
  • While the agreement itself has not altered the balance of power it represents the culmination of a long process that saw regime forces steadily gaining the upper hand and establishing clearer front lines, for example taking over rebel enclaves in Damascus and its surroundings north to Homs and the coastal region. (jadaliyya.com)
  • Regime sources are reporting that Assad's T4 Airbase in Homs is under attack. (twitchy.com)
  • After the regime took control of the area, Ramadan became a heavy burden for families in the Homs countryside, especially after the economic situation deteriorated due to the sanctions imposed on the regime. (enabbaladi.net)
  • The work of NGOs and charities in the area has ceased since the regime takeover of the northern Homs countryside in May 2018, due to the conditions imposed by the Ministry of Social Affairs to grant licenses for such Iftar projects. (enabbaladi.net)
  • Communication with the Baba Amr district in Homs has been largely cut off and reports suggest mobile phone networks are jammed. (ibtimes.co.uk)
  • The Baba Amr (district) (of Homs) is being exposed to fierce shelling from heavy machinegun fire, armored vehicles and mortars," the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Right said in a statement. (hizb.org.uk)
  • Syrian government troops have fired heavy barrages of artillery and rockets into districts across Homs, where rebels have been holding out through weeks of bombardment, opposition activists said. (warnewsradio.org)
  • The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights cited reports from opposition activists in Homs saying at least 11 tanks had left a district they attacked on Monday, and that other tanks were being hidden. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • The United Nations did not give details of the Homs agreement but local opposition activists told Reuters there was a temporary ceasefire. (worldbulletin.net)
  • Before leaving the central part of Homs, which was besieged by the Syrian army, 'Abd al-Basit Sarut, the goalkeeper for the national football team nicknamed the "icon of the revolution" by Syrian activists, had called on Jabhat al-Nusra and the IS to come to the revolutionaries' assistance. (warincontext.org)
  • Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. (wikipedia.org)
  • The residents of the northern Homs countryside are missing the aid of relief organizations during this month of Ramadan, as they used to provide meals and relief to the poor and those in need. (enabbaladi.net)
  • Both Homs and Aleppo, along with the capital of Damascus, have been key battlegrounds in the country's conflict, which is now in its third year and has claimed more than 70,000 lives. (timesofisrael.com)
  • By quickly shifting its efforts to Aleppo in an attempt to force a decisive battle before rebels could reconsolidate troops and acquire promised foreign supplies, the Syrian government failed to consolidate its gains in Homs. (understandingwar.org)
  • The campaign in Homs shows the Syrian government's difficulty with launching sequential campaigns without operational pause, as well as the challenges it faces from launching multiple, simultaneous offensives in Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus in ways that protract each fight. (understandingwar.org)
  • A security official told AFP on Monday the army hoped to eliminate the last pockets of resistance in Homs and nearby Qusayr by the week's end to free up troops for battle zones in the north, such as Aleppo. (naharnet.com)
  • Key Takeaway: In late June 2013, the Syrian government renewed its campaign in the central Syrian province of Homs, indicating that it failed to achieve its operational and strategic objectives after defeating the rebels in al-Qusayr. (understandingwar.org)
  • Although the Syrian government is on the offensive tactically in Homs, in fact, the need for a renewed campaign in the area indicates that the Syrian government failed to achieve its operational and strategic objectives after defeating the rebels in al-Qusayr. (understandingwar.org)
  • Ali fled Homs for Beirut the day before we met. (time.com)
  • I saw at least six tanks leave the neighbourhood at around 8 in the morning (0600 GMT)," Homs activist Mohamed Saleh told Reuters by telephone. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • Reuters) - At least 20 people were killed as Syrian tank forces battled opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in Homs on Monday, residents said, ahead of a planned visit by Arab League monitors to verify whether he is ending a violent crackdown on unrest. (hizb.org.uk)
  • 25 June 2023 - As part of its ongoing commitment to strengthen health systems in regions affected by crises, the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with its donors, has delivered three oxygen generators to three public hospitals: Dara'a National Hospital, Homs National Hospital, and Dummar National Hospital in Damascus. (who.int)
  • When leaflets were dropped on Homs before, some residents did heed the regime's advisement to flee the area, but others were instantly arrested when they attempted to escape. (ibtimes.com)
  • At least 34 people were killed in Homs on Monday as tanks fired into districts where opposition has been strongest to Assad's rule, the Observatory said. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • Syrian troops shelled the rebel stronghold in Homs for the 22nd straight day, after a pause allowed relief workers to evacuate some civilians, monitors said. (upi.com)
  • The U.N. measure calls for the Syrian government to immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against civilians and "allow free and unimpeded access by the United Nations and humanitarian agencies to carry out a full assessment of needs in Homs and other areas, and to permit humanitarian agencies to deliver vital relief goods and services to all civilians affected by the violence. (upi.com)
  • Parts of Homs are defended by the Free Syrian Army, made up of defectors from the regular armed forces, who say they have tried to establish no-go areas to protect civilians. (hizb.org.uk)
  • These groups will be trained by UN Habitat cooperating with UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and Governorates of Homs and Rural Damascus through the workshops of TOT in Homs and Rural Damascus. (unhabitat.org)
  • The project will be implemented in two governorates: Homs and Rural Damascus. (unhabitat.org)
  • There were 5 cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), two cases from Deir-ez-Zor, one case from Homs, one case from Damascus, one case from Rural Damascus. (who.int)
  • It was taken in 636 by the Muslims, who renamed it Homs (Ḥimṣ), and the city's large Christian element was eliminated during the rebellion of 855, when the churches were demolished and the Christians executed or deported. (britannica.com)
  • A Syrian cameraman working for the state television has been killed in a blast caused by an explosive device planted by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the central province of Homs. (presstv.ir)
  • In late June 2013, Syrian government forces renewed their campaign in the central Syrian province of Homs. (understandingwar.org)
  • The jewels of central Homs and Hama are sweet cheese rolls known as halawet el-jibn. (thelocal.de)
  • President Bashar Assad's troops regained control of the Wadi Sayeh district in the center of Homs early Thursday morning, the Observatory said. (timesofisrael.com)
  • Several fires broke out south of Homs as a result of the air strike and explosions could be heard in the area. (israelnationalnews.com)
  • Syrian men ride a motorcycle past destroyed buildings in the rebel-held village of Teir Maalah, on the northern outskirts of Homs, April 20, 2016. (ibtimes.com)
  • Days earlier, Syrian media reported that Israel carried out air strikes in the Homs region in the west of the country. (israelnationalnews.com)
  • better source needed] Thus, the name collectively means "The fortress surrounding" which refers to the Citadel of Homs and the encircling plains. (wikipedia.org)
  • Excavations at the Citadel of Homs indicate that the earliest settlement at the site dates back to around 2300 BCE. (wikipedia.org)
  • Homs contains a medieval citadel with remains of older foundations. (britannica.com)
  • Homs was conquered by the Muslims in the 7th century and made capital of a district that bore its current name. (wikipedia.org)
  • It's been completely quiet the whole morning, so we're going to use the time and hold a protest," said construction worker Tamir, from the Khalidiya district in Homs, one of the four areas where fighting has been heavy in past weeks. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • The Al-Zahraa district of Homs has been targeted in multiple bomb attacks in the past, including in late December, when 19 people were killed in several simultaneous blasts. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • In Homs, a double car bombing killed nearly 60 and injured another hundred people in the largely-Alawite Zahra district. (aoav.org.uk)
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one person was killed and 20 injured as security forces in armoured vehicles fired on several neighbourhoods in Homs. (trend.az)
  • Moving their base of operations from al-Qusayr to other neighboring villages, the armed opposition was able to reopen some of the smaller supply lines from Lebanon into Homs that had been closed off when al-Qusayr fell. (understandingwar.org)
  • Twice a day, at noon and in the evening, a beautiful common prayer gathered all these young people under a vast tent set up near the Jesuit church in Homs. (taize.fr)
  • The provincial governor of Homs, Talal Barazi, told AFP at least 19 people had been killed in the attacks. (hurriyetdailynews.com)
  • A Syrian family of pastry chefs, the Sakkas, once delighted the people of Homs with their sugar-soaked Levantine delicacies, until a rain of bombs turned them into refugees. (thelocal.de)
  • In Homs, our shop employed 40 people, the pastry was laid out on 150 square metres (1,614 square feet) on two floors, and on top of that we had a big workshop", Tamem recalled with nostalgia. (thelocal.de)
  • More than 40 people died on Tuesday alone, including Rami al-Sayed, a man who broadcast a live video stream from Homs used by world media. (cpu.org.uk)
  • For Homs residents, such warnings are not unusual. (ibtimes.com)
  • Residents of Homs are bracing for renewed fighting. (ibtimes.com)
  • Homs has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in Syria's 22-month conflict, with hundreds of thousands of residents displaced . (unicef.ie)
  • As a result, the remaining rebel strongholds in Homs province were left largely uncontested, including the areas of Rastan and Talbisseh where rebel reinforcements had amassed during the battle for al-Qusayr. (understandingwar.org)
  • Opposition-held areas of Homs have been besieged since 4 February. (cpu.org.uk)
  • Cameraman Mohammed Milad was killed in a rural area in eastern Homs," the official SANA news agency said on Tuesday. (presstv.ir)
  • Two western reporters stranded in Homs, Edith Bouvier and Paul Conroy, could be rescued today, according to the New York Daily Post. (warnewsradio.org)
  • Homs National Hospital, which includes two operating rooms, a twelve-bed inpatient ward, and four intensive care units (ICUs), has been equipped with an oxygen generator with a capacity of 20m 3 /h. (who.int)
  • According to the report, Syria's air defense systems were activated against "hostile targets" over Homs and intercepted some of the missiles. (israelnationalnews.com)
  • Mark Choonoo, UNICEF Emergency Specialist, was in Homs recently and shares his first-hand account on the situation there and the impact the destruction wrought by the conflict has on children and families. (unicef.ie)
  • The catastrophe is that there are 800 families trapped in Homs. (naharnet.com)
  • Reports on Thursday said rebel fighters had beaten a hasty retreat from Bab Amr, one of the more beleaguered - and bombed - neighborhoods in Homs. (time.com)
  • Una vez en el interior, estas letras se encargan de establecer y ordenar el espacio destinado a la venta y comercialización. (com.es)
  • Now that the meeting at Homs is over, and it was wonderfully beautiful beyond all hopes, this same call is meant for each one of us, wherever we live, especially in places in the world where the dignity of human beings is disparaged, and where conflicts and wars continue to bring their load of immense suffereing. (taize.fr)
  • The movie 'Return to Homs' was awarded the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for a documentary at the prestigious US film festival last week, much to director Talal Derki's delight. (asiaone.com)