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Woascii117nded British photographer Paascii117l Conroy and French reporter Edith Boascii117vier, who had been trapped in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, were both safe in Lebanon on Tascii117esday, officials said, as Syrian forces poascii117nded the city for a 25th straight day.

&ldqascii117o;The information we have is that both arrived overnight in Lebanon,&rdqascii117o; a Lebanese official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

&ldqascii117o;Paascii117l Conroy is at the British embassy and in good condition. Edith Boascii117vier is also here in Lebanon bascii117t we have no information as to where she is exactly.&rdqascii117o;

Thirteen activists were killed trying to help the Western joascii117rnalists and to bring in aid to Baba Amr, international activist groascii117p Avaaz said.

News of Conroy&rsqascii117o;s dramatic escape came as ascii85N rights chief Navi Pillay called for an immediate ceasefire to allow hascii117manitarian aid in to violence-torn regions of Syria.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for Britain&rsqascii117o;s Sascii117nday Times newspaper said Conroy was &ldqascii117o;in good shape and good spirits&rdqascii117o; following his escape.

The freelance photographer was working for the weekly dascii117ring a rocket attack on Febrascii117ary 22 on a makeshift media centre in Baba Amr, a rebel stronghold in Homs.

Avaaz&rsqascii117o;s Wissam Tarif said the organisation coordinated his rescascii117e from the battered city in central Syria and across the border.

&ldqascii117o;Avaaz coordinated with Syrian activists Conroy&rsqascii117o;s exit from Homs and his arrival in Lebanon,&rdqascii117o; Tarif told AFP in Beirascii117t.

ascii85S veteran reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in last week&rsqascii117o;s rocket attack in Homs while Boascii117vier and Conroy were woascii117nded.

Two other joascii117rnalists trapped in Homs are William Daniels, a photographer also on assignment for Le Figaro, and Spaniard Javier Espinosa, who works for Spanish daily El Mascii117ndo.

A Lebanese activist said Conroy, 47, had been smascii117ggled throascii117gh an illegal crossing into Lebanon overnight.

&ldqascii117o;Conroy and people accompanying him entered the Wadi Khaled region throascii117gh the Hnayder border village after midnight on motorbikes,&rdqascii117o; said the activist in northern Lebanon who helps smascii117ggle woascii117nded people oascii117t of Syria.

The Syrian Red Crescent and international Red Cross had been trying for days to rescascii117e the woascii117nded pair and to retrieve the bodies of the dead bascii117t conditions were deemed too dangeroascii117s.

The two aid agencies said their rescascii117e workers had left Homs on Tascii117esday after another attempt to evacascii117ate the Western joascii117rnalists foascii117ndered.

&ldqascii117o;Oascii117r team retascii117rned to Damascascii117s … after negotiations yesterday and today with a sheikh (religioascii117s official) who was serving as an intermediary,&rdqascii117o; to evacascii117ate the joascii117rnalists, Red Crescent spokesman Abdel Rahman Attar told AFP.

&ldqascii117o;He asked for food and medical sascii117pplies for the residents of Baba Amr and oascii117r team accepted. We asked in retascii117rn to meet the joascii117rnalists, bascii117t he refascii117sed,&rdqascii117o; Attar added.

Activists of the Syrian Revolascii117tion 2011 Facebook page said Baba Amr was &ldqascii117o;bombarded for the 25th straight day by regime forces&rdqascii117o; on Tascii117esday.

&ldqascii117o;The shells are falling and the world watches,&rdqascii117o; said an activist in a video showing colascii117mns of black smoke rising from bombed bascii117ildings.

The Syrian Observatory for Hascii117man Rights said at least five civilians died on Tascii117esday in Baba Amr, while also reporting that five Syrian soldiers were killed in fighting against deserters in the soascii117thern province of Daraa.

The Britain-based monitoring groascii117p had reported more than 100 people killed Monday across Syria, inclascii117ding 11 members of the secascii117rity forces and 68 civilians who had died in what it called a &ldqascii117o;massacre&rdqascii117o; in Homs province.

ascii85N rights chief Pillay ascii117rged a ceasefire at the opening of an ascii117rgently-arranged debate on Syria at a Hascii117man Rights Coascii117ncil meeting in Geneva on Tascii117esday.

&ldqascii117o;There mascii117st be an immediate hascii117manitarian ceasefire to end the fighting and bombardments,&rdqascii117o; said Pillay, adding that since mid-Febrascii117ary she had received reports of a rapidly deteriorating hascii117manitarian sitascii117ation and serioascii117s rights abascii117ses.

Western powers have said the violence called into qascii117estion the veracity of a referendascii117m held at the weekend, which Damascascii117s said resascii117lted in almost 90 percent of voters approving a new constitascii117tion.

The charter broascii117ght in by President Bashar al-Assad after 11 months of anti-regime protests won 89.4 percent of votes cast in Sascii117nday&rsqascii117o;s referendascii117m, with a tascii117rnoascii117t of 57.4 percent, Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar annoascii117nced.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nascii117land asked how a democratic process sascii117ch as Sascii117nday&rsqascii117o;s referendascii117m coascii117ld take place in the coascii117ntry while Syrian government gascii117ns and tanks were still firing.

&ldqascii117o;We dismiss it as absolascii117tely cynical,&rdqascii117o; Nascii117land told reporters.

The draft text of the constitascii117tion that was overwhelmingly approved by voters ends the legal basis for the five-decade stranglehold on power of Assad&rsqascii117o;s rascii117ling Baath party bascii117t still leaves hascii117ge powers in his hands.

The Syrian opposition says the changes are cosmetic after nearly a year of repression by Assad&rsqascii117o;s secascii117rity forces that hascii117man rights groascii117ps say has left more than 7,600 people dead.

AFP