Assad, Red Cross chief have "positive" talks on Syria aid -ICRC

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Red Cross President Peter Maurer held "positive talks" in Damascus on Tuesday on ways of expanding humanitarian operations in the war-torn country, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said.                              

"During the meeting with President Assad this morning, the ICRC president discussed issues related to the protection of the civilian population during the conduct of hostilities such as the importance of access to health care and basic necessities and also visits to persons detained in Syria," ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said.                                         

"The meeting between President Assad and President Maurer was positive," Hassan added, without elaborating.                                  

Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported that more than 100,000 Syrian citizens left their country during August and headed to safer grounds.

The French president Nicolas Sarkozy considered that Syria is governed by a group of officials committing massacres, and expressed his encouragement to form an alternative government.  

As for the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Guido Westerwelle, he stressed that the formation of a democratic transitional government representing all components of the Syrian opposition is an urgent matter.


According to a Syrian official source, Syrian authorities estimated that the losses resulting from terrorist acts in the city of Homs are about nine billion US dollars.

On the Field:                

Armed opposition fighters seized control of the security headquarters located east of the country following violent clashes on Monday night with regime as per the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.           

The clashes resulted in the death of two rebels and at least eight Syrian Army soldiers.                          

For their part, Local Coordination Committees said that heavy artillery and heavy bombardment targeted the city of Damascus at a rate two minutes per shell.


REUTERS/LBCI