Assad blocks access to Damascus for EU envoys
Syria's President Bashar Assad has revoked special visas for European Union diplomats and officials travelling regularly between Beirut and Damascus, complicating efforts to distribute aid to civil war victims, three senior EU diplomats said.
Since conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, the EU has used the Lebanese capital, the nearest major city, for its diplomatic base while closing most embassies in Damascus in protest over what they describe as Assad's brutal assault on the opposition.
