Aid Coordination Meeting on Syria Opens in Geneva

A relief aid coordination meeting on strife-torn Syria opened Thursday in Geneva, with representatives from U.N. agencies, aid groups such as the Red Cross, and member states in attendance.

The closed-door conference chaired by the John Ging, coordination chief of U.N.'s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, would look at current needs and the possibilities of accessing the country, a spokesman said.

The U.N.'s humanitarian chief Valerie Amos is currently visiting Syria to seek approval from Damascus for relief teams obtain access into the country, where a brutal crackdown by the ruling regime has taken over 7,500 lives.