Syrian wounded to be flown to Germany for treatment: report

Germany is due Monday to send a specially-equipped military aircraft to bring more than 30 people seriously wounded in the Syrian conflict for treatment in the country, AFP says according to a media report. The German armed forces plane is due to transport 36 wounded Syrians to Germany for care at army hospitals in four cities or towns, including Berlin and Hamburg, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said in a pre-released excerpt of a Monday article. The patients are currently being looked after in Jordan, the paper said. "We are deeply affected by the thousands of dead and the still bigger number of wounded which the terrible civil war in Syria has claimed up to now," the daily quoted Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle as saying. "We want to enable a quick and as complete as possible recovery here in Germany for some of the worst injured victims of the war with the relief action now beginning," he added. Syrian opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib had requested the help from Westerwelle, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said. The government also wants to "contribute to political support for the National Coalition of Syrian opposition which is developing more and more into a visible, credible alternative to the Assad regime for the Syrians", it quoted Westerwelle as saying. The German plane is due to land first in Stuttgart followed by Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin, the report said. Last month Germany said it was prepared to take in another 5,000 Syrian refugees in the coming months which would bring to about 13,000 the number of Syrian refugees taken in since the start of 2012. The conflict in Syria, which is now in its third year, has cost 70,000 lives, according to the United Nations.