Thousands of Syrian rebels and their families have picked up and left the city of Homs, once called the capital of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.  It hands the reviled dictator a major symbolic victory less than a month before his likely re-election.

The rebels set fire to what little was left in what was once a city of more than 650,000 people.  Residents on the outskirts say they could smell the fires in the old city burning as the rebels were packed onto buses.  The rebels feel betrayed by those who offered encouragement – Turkey, the international community, especially their fellow rebels groups that seemed more interested general jihad than in the actual goal of overthrowing Assad.

This was made possible by a temporary truce:  The government lets up its relentless bombardment of Homs, giving the rebels a chance to leave; in return, the rebels release in Aleppo and Latakia provinces, and ease their own siege of two Shi’ite towns in northern Syria.

From the start of the Syrian civil war more than three years ago, the government had focused much of its effort on stamping out the rebellion in Homs.  The rebels leave their former base with little to show for their efforts.  The Assad government is winning more than it is losing, and retains the upper hand when it comes to a monopoly on air power and control of ports and transport arteries.

But more than 150,000 people have been killed in the war, and more than a million have been routed from their homes.