GENEVA (AP) — The new president of the Red Cross says he held “positive” talks with Syria’s president this week to gain access to detainees and free up deliveries of badly needed aid.
Peter Maurer, president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, says his talks with Bashar Assad were “sober, to the point” and “clearly focused on humanitarian needs,” such as freeing up deliveries of food, medicine and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of people.
Maurer told reporters today in Geneva that he also visited rural areas around Damascus where residents told him “horrific accounts of armed attacks” and left him shocked at the “extreme violence.”
The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less