UN says 100,000 refugees fled Syria in August

The new president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, veteran Swiss diplomat Peter Maurer, met Tuesday in Damascus with Assad, the Geneva-based group said Tuesday. It said Maurer would brief reporters Friday on the outcome of his three-day visit, which began Monday.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported that Assad told the Red Cross it was welcome to operate on the ground in Syria "as long as it works in a neutral and independent way."

A fifth meeting of the U.N.-sponsored Syrian Humanitarian Forum — made up of hundreds of nations, regional groups, U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations — is also planned for Friday in Geneva.

At the last meeting in mid-July the operations director for the U.N.'s humanitarian office said its appeal for $189 million to help people inside Syria was only 20 percent funded.