BEIRUT: A military plane dispatched by the French government flew two journalists who had been wounded in Syria and then evacuated to Lebanon back to their home country from Beirut Friday.

Sources at Rafik Hariri International Airport said a Falcon 900 private jet arrived around midday under strict security measures to pick up reporter Edith Bouvier, of Le Figaro, and photographer William Daniels.

The two French journalists were evacuated late Thursday from the besieged district of Baba Amr in Homs and whisked to safety in neighboring Lebanon, a security source told The Daily Star earlier Friday.

From the Bekaa Valley, the two were transported to Beirut where they were escorted to Hotel Dieu Hospital by a 20-vehicle convoy dispatched by the French Embassy, the source added.

He said Bouvier was treated for shrapnel wounds to her thigh and is in stable condition.

The source said the French Embassy, in collaboration with Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry, was arranging the departure of both journalists to France on a private jet.

Activists say hundreds of Syrians have been killed and an unknown number wounded in Baba Amr, where Bouvier and Daniels had been trapped.

Two journalists - American Marie Colvin and French Remi Ochlik - were killed in shelling two weeks ago in the Homs neighborhood, which has been besieged by the Syrian Army for a month.