DAMASCUS — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres this week to discuss the plight of Iraqi refugees in Syria, official news agency SANA reported. They discussed “cooperation between the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Syria with regard to improving the conditions (of refugees) and finding solutions to their problems,” SANA added.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres listens to Iraqi refugee during a visit to a registration center in Douma near Damascus

Assad said all the “parties concerned need to assume their responsibilities” toward the refugees, while Guterres thanked Syria which has taken in 1.5 million Iraqi refugees. Since October 1, the number of Iraqis traveling to Syria has dropped after new visa conditions were imposed by Damascus. Almost 45,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria have returned home since mid-September, including 20,000 who traveled back in December, the Iraqi Red Cross said in January.