The United Nations welcomed reports that an agreement has been reached to allow the evacuation of civilians from the besieged Syrian city of Homs and for aid to be delivered, a UN spokesman said. The rebel-held Old Homs districts in the centre of the city have been under tight siege from President Bashar al-Assad's troops since June 2012. Thousands of residents there live in dire conditions, amid an acute shortage of food and medicine. Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from Washington DC.
