(Vatican Radio) The European Union decided on Wednesday it will review sanctions on
Syria every three months instead of every year to make it easier in future to equip
rebels fighting to depose President Bashar al-Assad. Their decision is scheduled to
be finalised Thursday during a meeting of EU trade ministers. The decision came on
a day which saw dozens killed in Damascus resulting from a pair of twin explosions.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos listened to some of the stories about the violence
in Syria from a few of the thousands of refugees fleeing the country. “The stories
that they gave and described in terms of their experiences are extremely traumatic.” Ms
Amos included the testimony of one woman, “whose husband was tortured and died, and
who saw her mother torched in her home.” The United Nations reports that each month
20,000 Syrians flee into Lebanon alone, with Turkey and Jordan also taking on hundreds
of thousands of refugees. Listen to Ann Schneible’s full report: