BEIRUT (AP) — Dozens of children and women along with elderly people in wheelchairs were evacuated Friday from besieged neighborhoods of Syria’s battleground city of Homs under a deal between the warring sides that included a three-day cease-fire.

The rare truce in Homs, which will also allow the entrance of aid convoys, may help build some confidence ahead of a second round of peace talks between the opposition and the government of President Bashar Assad, scheduled to begin in Geneva next week.