Hurt UK Journalist Flees Homs to Lebanon, French Reporter Fate Unclear
Wounded British journalist Paul Conroy has been smuggled safely out of the besieged Syrian rebel city of Homs and crossed into Lebanon, officials said on Tuesday.
But there was uncertainty over the fate of French reporter Edith Bouvier, who was first reported to have also escaped before that was denied.
An international NGO, Avaaz, said three activists were killed in a rescue operation for the wounded journalists.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy retracted an earlier statement in which he had confirmed that Bouvier, who has multiple fractures, had escaped from the besieged district of Baba Amr in Homs.
"It is not confirmed that she is now safe in Lebanon," he said, adding that the situation was "unclear" and "complicated".
Bouvier "is not in Lebanon but still in Syria," a management source at her newspaper, Le Figaro, told Agence France Presse. "It is wrong to say she is 'safe and sound in Lebanon,'" the source said.
On its website, the newspaper also noted that "the French embassy in Beirut has indicated it is not able to confirm rumors about the journalist's evacuation to Lebanon."
Earlier, a Lebanese official told AFP the "two journalists, Edith Bouvier and Paul Conroy, arrived overnight in Lebanon and they are safe."
"Paul Conroy is at the British embassy and in good condition. Edith Bouvier is also here in Lebanon but we have no information as to where she is exactly," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Foreign Office in London, meanwhile, said freelance photographer Conroy was "receiving full consular assistance from our embassy."
Both journalists were wounded in a February 22 rocket attack on a makeshift media center in Baba Amr, a rebel stronghold in the central Syrian city of Homs, in which U.S. veteran reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed.
Two other journalists trapped in Homs are William Daniels, a photographer who also was on assignment for Le Figaro, and Spaniard Javier Espinosa who works for the Spanish daily El Mundo.
Conroy's employers, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, said he was "in good shape and good spirits" following his escape.
Wissam Tarif of Avaaz said his organization coordinated the rescue together with Syrian activists from the battered city of Homs and across the border into Lebanon.
"Avaaz coordinated with Syrian activists Conroy's exit from Homs and his arrival in Lebanon," Tarif told AFP in Beirut, without mention of the other trapped Western journalists.
The Syrian Red Crescent, meanwhile, said its rescuers left Homs on Tuesday after talks to evacuate the journalists foundered.
A total of 13 activists were killed trying to assist the Western journalists and to bring in aid to Baba Amr, according to Avaaz.
"Today, a network of Syrian activists coordinated by the global campaign organization Avaaz helped the international journalist Paul Conroy escape into Lebanon," Avaaz said.
"Three activists were killed by Syrian targeted shelling as they tried to assist the journalists through Baba Amr," Avaaz said.
"While Paul Conroy successfully escaped the city, 10 activists died bringing relief supplies into Baba Amr," the NGO added.
On Tuesday, the Spanish foreign ministry said Espinosa was known to be still in Homs on Monday. "The government is doing everything possible to help him," a ministry spokesman said in Madrid.
A Lebanese activist confirmed that Conroy had been smuggled during the night from Homs to Lebanon through an illegal crossing.
Conroy, 47, issued a video appeal for help last week, saying he was injured and being looked after by Free Syrian Army rebels. Bouvier was also seen urging medical assistance in another video.
Avaaz said that "35 heroic Syrian activists" volunteered to help in the evacuation process and that the operation "was carried out by Syrians with the help of Avaaz. No other agency was involved."
"Paul Conroy's rescue today is a huge relief but this must be tempered with the news that three remain unaccounted for and with our respects for the incredibly courageous activists who died during the evacuation attempts," said Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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