The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer met with the Syrian leader Bashar al- Assad as part of his three day trip today to discuss the protection of the civilian population and the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation.

This footage shows the two men in a 45 minute discussion, looking at access to healthcare and basic necessities for the population while the war is going on. Also about The Red Cross visiting people detained by the government to check on their welfare.

Meanwhile Turkey has taken in more than 80,000 people who have fled the 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and another 8,000 are waiting at the Syrian border. These two people explain the conditions and high costs of everything

"13,000 Syrian soldiers surrounded our city. Around 50,000 people were living in our city but now, barely 25,000 people are left. Thousands of people have left the town. Our village has been under heavy bombardment for two days."

"Food prices have sharply risen in town. Nothing is left in the city. Everything is extremely expensive. One cannot find any medical equipment in hospitals. When you take a wounded person to hospital, they cannot do anything to treat him."

The U.N. refugee agency says the refugee figure could reach 200.000 in the next few weeks, which is causing great concern in Ankara as they don't want a repeat of the half a million Iraqi Kurds who poured into the country after the 1991 Gulf War.

Written and presented by Ann Salter