Dozens of Syrian and Lebanese fighters wounded in battle against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Qusayr have been evacuated to Lebanon, security officials said today.
They were evacuated as the regime seized the last remaining insurgent bastion in the Qusayr area of central Syria, near the Lebanese border.
The sources said the rebels included around 10 Lebanese Sunnis who had crossed to Syria to join the insurgency.
"Some 30 wounded fighters are being treated in hospitals in the Baalbek area" of eastern Lebanon, a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He also said "dozens of wounded rebels" had arrived in Arsal in northern Lebanon, awaiting treatment.
Another security official in northern Lebanon told AFP that "10 Lebanese Sunnis from (the port city of Tripoli) have been brought back for treatment. We are expecting more to arrive".
Pro-government forces captured the town of Qusayr on Wednesday after a nearly three-week assault by Assad's troops backed by fighters of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
Scores of civilians have also poured this week into the majority Sunni town of Arsal in Lebanon, a local official told AFP.
"Some 30 families arrived today from the Qusayr area," Ahmad al-Hojeiri of Arsal municipality told AFP.
"Their situation is very bad -- they arrived exhausted. They have nothing. Some came here on foot," he said, adding that local authorities were short of funds and "only managing to provide basic assistance".
More than 500,000 Syrians fleeing their country's more than two-year-old conflict have sought refuge in Lebanon, which is becoming increasingly drawn into the Syrian war.
