Red Cross chief will request Assad's help with Syria's humanitarian crisis

About 1.2 million people have been displaced in Syria during the conflict and a further 230,000 refugees have fled to four neighbouring countries, the United Nations says.

The ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent have distributed relief items to more than 800,000 people this year, most of them displaced and staying in temporary shelters including schools, and ensured that more than one million people have enough clean water, the ICRC said.

Maurer, whose meetings are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, is also due to meet Foreign Minister Walid Moualem, Interior Minister General Mohamad Ibrahim Al Shaar, Health Minister Saad Abdel Salam Al-Nayef, and the Minister of State for National Reconciliation, Ali Haidar.

Syria opened its prisons for the first time almost exactly a year ago under a deal secured by Kellenberger on the first of his three trips there.

ICRC officials visited Damascus central prison last September but their access quickly stalled amid disagreement over the ICRC's standard requirements, which include the right to interview prisoners in private and make follow-up visits.

After Kellenberger won fresh agreement from Syrian authorities in April, ICRC officials visited inmates at Aleppo central prison in May, but there has been no access since.

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