BULLDOZERS got to work quickly today to start clearing rubble from the battle-scarred streets of Homs after government troops entered the last rebel-held neighbourhoods.

But another aspect of the negotiated rebel withdrawal hung in the balance. 

The departure of a last batch of around 300 fighters waiting to leave for rebel-held areas north of Homs was delayed after rebels in northern Syria prevented aid from reaching besieged pro-government villages.

The aid delivery to the communities of Nubul and Zahra in Aleppo province was part of the agreement allowing the rebels to leave Homs unhindered.

Some 1,700 rebels have left Homs since Wednesday under a deal struck between government and rebels.

Homs governor Talal Barazi said that engineering units were combing the old neighbourhoods of the city, including the former opposition stronghold of Hamidiyeh, in search of mines and other explosives and two soldiers had been killed while dismantling a bomb.