Suspension of visas to EU diplomats hampers Syria aid work

Syrian security forces inspect a burned car at the site of an explosion in Latakia, near President Bashar Assad’s ancestral village, on Tuesday. (AP)

• The special permission to use multiple-entry Syrian visas for access to Damascus was rescinded at the start of January

BRUSSELS, BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad has suspended special multiple-entry visas for EU diplomats to Damascus.

“We are continuing as the EU ... to do whatever we can to avoid it having an impact on the important work we are doing on the ground,” a European Commission spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The special permission to use multiple-entry Syrian visas for access to Damascus was rescinded at the start of January with no explanation from the Syrian regime, complicating efforts to distribute humanitarian aid to civil war victims.