- Title: GERMANY: Military medevacs injured Syrians
- Date: 15th April 2013
- Summary: COLOGNE, GERMANY (APRIL 15, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GERMAN AIR FORCE PLANE CARRYING INJURED SYRIANS TAXIING AT COLOGNE AIRPORT AFTER ARRIVAL CONTROL TOWER OFFICIALS AT ENTRANCE TO HANGAR VARIOUS OF PLANE ENTERING HANGAR MILITARY AMBULANCES DRIVING PAST WINDOWS OF PLANE MILITARY AMBULANCE AMBULANCES OUTSIDE HANGAR WHERE PLANE IS PARKED
- Embargoed: 30th April 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8458DWPASJQHJ75VDCWGAWPSW
- Story Text: The German military flew 36 seriously injured Syrians to Germany for treatment on Monday (April 15).
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, speaking to journalists in Berlin, said Germany wanted to make "a small contribution towards easing the unimaginable suffering of the people in Syria." He would not say whether the 36 included people involved directly in the fighting but said that they had been chosen because of their medical needs.
The 36 people are to be treated in German military hospitals in Berlin, Hamburg, Ulm and Westerstede bei Oldenburg.
The injured were reported to have been flown out of Jordan by the German air force.
Opposition and state media said on Monday that Syrian government troops had broken through a six-month rebel blockade in northern Syria and are now fighting to recapture a vital highway.
Rebels had kept the army bottled up in the Wadi al-Deif and Hamidiya military bases in Idlib province. But on Sunday (April 14), President Bashar al-Assad's forces outflanked the rebels and broke through, the pro-government al-Baath newspaper said.
The insurgents counter-attacked on Monday but their front has been weakened in recent weeks due to infighting and the deployment of forces to other battles, activists said.
The break-out from the bases, located outside Maarat al-Nuaman town, may enable the army to recapture the main route into Aleppo, Syria's largest city, and bolster their fragile supply lines in the heart of the rebel-held north.
Two years into the uprising against Assad, government forces are fighting hard to maintain control of cities. Many rural areas and provincial towns March was the bloodiest month yet in a conflict which began as a protest movement against four decades of Assad family rule but has descended into an increasingly sectarian civil war in which at least 70,000 people have been killed. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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