Wounded French journalist evacuated from Syria

BRUSSELS - Journalists Edith Bouvier and William Daniels, who were trapped in Syria, made it safely into Lebanon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday.

Bouvier and Daniels had been in the Baba Amr district of Homs during a monthlong siege. Sarkozy made the announcement Thursday during a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

Bouvier was wounded last week in a government rocket attack on a makeshift media center that killed American-born journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

"I had her on the phone. She is with her colleague, outside Syria," Sarkozy said during an impromptu news briefing. "She has suffered a lot, but she will give the details herself. She is injured in the left leg."

Sarkozy refused to give any details on the extraction, including who took her out of Homs since there were still other journalists trying to get to safety.

"It was done by efficient people," Sarkozy said. Sarkozy said snow in Lebanon had slowed their way to Beirut.

In a statement after Sarkozy's announcement, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe expressed his "immense joy" that the two journalists were safe in Lebanon.

"They were taken in by the French Embassy in Beirut and everything is being down to ensure their medical care and their repatriation as soon as possible," he said.

Earlier, Syrian rebels made what they called a "tactical retreat" from Baba Amr, saying they were running low on weapons and that humanitarian conditions were unbearable.