Civilians Leave Besieged Areas of Syria's Homs as Troops 'Retake Most of Aleppo Prison'

Syrian troops on Friday retook most of Aleppo's prison, after losses a day earlier, in fighting that killed at least 47 people in two days, a monitoring group said.

But it was unclear if hundreds of prisoners had been able to flee, as reported on Thursday after Islamist and jihadist fighters had overrun the facility.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime aircraft were keeping up their daily their assault on rebel-held districts of the northern city with barrel bombs.

The crude weaponry has killed at least 260 people since Saturday, including 73 children, according to the monitoring group.

Fresh clashes in and around part of the jail broke out between government forces and fighters of Ahrar Al-Sham Brigade and al-Qaida affiliate Al-Nusra front, the Britain-based watchdog said.

The 47 dead over two days were 20 soldiers, 22 rebels and five prisoners, it said.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse the rebel assault began with a suicide attack by an Al-Nusra fighter at the prison's main entrance.

Ahrar al-Sham said Thursday that opposition fighters had taken full control of the prison, as did the Aleppo Media Center, a citizen-journalist outlet.

But state television said soldiers and security forces had thwarted the attack.

Rebels have for months launched attacks on the prison, which reportedly holds some 3,000 detainees, including Islamists, activists and minors.

Conditions inside are said to be dire, with the Observatory reporting the death of some 600 prisoners because of extreme medical and food shortages, as well as violence around the prison in recent months.

The conditions prompted the government to announce in December the release of 366 prisoners for "humanitarian reasons".

In addition to Aleppo, the Observatory said army helicopters on Friday also dropped barrel bombs in parts of Idlib, Hama and Daraya provinces.

In Hama's Kafr Zita, 11 people including five children were killed in the latest such attacks, whose use has been widely condemned by rights groups as indiscriminate.

And Syrian state television reported nine people killed and 19 others wounded in mortar attacks on regime-controlled parts of Aleppo city.

Meanwhile, the first trapped civilians were evacuated from besieged rebel-held areas of Syria's Homs on Friday as Damascus finally confirmed it will join a new round of peace talks next week.

State television and other networks showed footage of Red Crescent volunteers assisting frail-looking old men wrapped in blankets inside a bus, as a woman lying on a stretcher awaited her turn.

Syria's third city, dubbed "the capital of the revolution" by rebels, has been a key flashpoint since early in the almost three-year-old revolt against President Bashar Assad.

State broadcasting said that by the afternoon three busloads had left Homs with a total of 60 civilians on board, mostly women, children and the elderly.

An AFP correspondent said some 12 civilians came out on the first bus from the rebel enclave which has been under army blockade for more than 600 days.

Homs governor Talal Barazi told AFP as many as 200 civilians were "ready to be evacuated today" (Friday), in line with information received by the United Nations.

But the United Nations said 83 civilians were evacuated from rebel-held areas in Homs under the three day "humanitarian pause."

"The people who were able to leave were women, children and the elderly," said U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq, adding that the operation was still in progress.

"They were then delivered to the places of their choice escorted by UN and Syrian Red Crescent staff," he said.

The spokesman was unable to say when humanitarian aid would be delivered to those who have stayed behind, saying it was still under discussion.

The evacuation is part of a surprise deal brokered by the U.N. between the two sides after months of negotiations that will also see desperately needed aid delivered during a "humanitarian pause" in fighting.

Barazi said the first consignment of food and medicines will not go in until Saturday.

Activists frequently report severe food and medical shortages, with some 3,000 people -- including 1,200 women, children, and elderly people -- trapped there, surviving on little more than olives and grass.

An activist, Yazan, told AFP via the Internet those leaving "have mixed feelings" -- they are happy to escape but worried about "what comes next and are afraid they might be detained by the regime".

Barazi said those allowed out were children under 15, men over 55 and women, calling the U.N.-supervised operation a "success".

There were initial "difficulties" for civilians trying to get out of the rebel-held Old City "but thanks be to God they were able to leave," he said.

State television said the civilians had been held as "human shields" by "terrorist groups" -- the term authorities use to describe rebels fighting to topple Assad's government.

U.N. World Food Program staffers in blue vests supervised the evacuation, and a vehicle marked with the logo of U.N. refugee agency the UNHCR was parked nearby.

The government agreed to observe a "humanitarian pause" and opposition activists in Homs said the rebels had agreed to a four-day ceasefire.

The army launched a string of huge offensives to recapture rebel areas in the Old City in early 2012, with near-daily bombardments killing thousands.

Attacks in February 2012 also claimed the lives of American war reporter Mary Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

Assad's forces imposed the blockade in June 2012 after recapturing most of Homs, pushing the rebels into a small enclave in its center.

A new advance last summer, after pro-government forces backed by fighters from Hizbullah recaptured the town of Qusayr, cut off the rebels' supply route.

The plight of the trapped civilians was on the agenda of peace talks between the government and the opposition in Switzerland last month, that broke up without any agreement on access for relief supplies.

The second round of peace talks due to open Monday had been uncertain after the government left open whether it would attend.

On Friday, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad finally confirmed that a government delegation would go to Geneva for more talks with the opposition.

"It has been decided that the delegation of the Syrian republic will take part in the second round of negotiations in Geneva," state news agency SANA quoted him as saying.

In the first round of talks, the two sides failed to agree on a single point despite persistent pressure from U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, and co-sponsors Russia and the United States.

On Tuesday, Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmad Jarba met Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia, a key Damascus ally, in Moscow to press demands by the opposition.

For Assad's opponents, the central point of the negotiations is the transition foreseen in the Geneva I communique -- which calls for an interim government but remains unclear on Assad's future.

The government insists that Assad's rule is not up for discussion and demands that the talks focus on "terrorism".