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Syrian rebels and government forces began observing a 10-day truce Thursday in the last rebel-held area of the central city of Homs, marking another setback for opposition fighters, activists said, The Associated Press reported.

Government forces had blockaded Waar for some 20 months, only sporadically allowing in food. It is not clear how many civilians remain in the sprawling area separated from the rest of the city by the Orontes river.

Activist Beibars al-Tilawi said officials promised to allow the U.N. to deliver more food while the two sides discussed how to end the standoff. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the truce.

Al-Tilawi, who spoke from Waar via Skype, said the rebels were outgunned, and that the experience of fighters once holed up Homs' Old City was instructive: the area was destroyed, thousands of civilians were killed or forced to flee, and ultimately rebels negotiated their surrender in May 2014.

"They want to prevent the Al-Waar area from military action, so it won't be like the old city of Homs, where in the end, negotiations and diplomacy solved the problem," Al-Tilawi said.