(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A new agreement is reported to be in the offing for Harasta, a rebel bastion northeast of Damascus, and talks over Daraya to the southwest are also under way.An AFP journalist visiting Babila accompanied by official regime escorts saw dozens of cheering residents chant: “One, one, one! The Syrian people are one!”There was widespread devastation. On Babila’s main street, every single building had been either destroyed or damaged.Regime troops raised the flag Monday over the municipality in Babila, which was a rebel rear base until several months ago when the army laid siege to it.Armed rebels were still present, as the terms of the pact also included an amnesty, a security source said.Rebels in military fatigues stood idly around, chatting with soldiers. There was no shooting or shelling.But rebels did protest during the symbolic hoisting of the regime’s flag, chanting: “Syria is free!”Troops countered with: “God save the army!”Graffiti on Babila’s walls called on the regime to release prisoners.As bulldozers cleared away rubble, Damascus province Governor Hussein Makhluf pledged that public services would be restored to the ravaged area. “We can feel the sons of the nation uniting,” said Makhluf, blaming “foreigners” for the conflict.Assad told AFP in January that such truces could “be more important than Geneva.”
