Syria National Council: Humanitarian help plea for Syria

More than 70 countries will attend a Friends of Syria conference in Istanbul on Sunday to raise pressure on President Assad to abide by a peace plan proposed by the United Nations and Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan.

It calls for the government to pull troops and heavy weapons out of population centres, and for a daily pause in fighting to allow humanitarian aid to reach affected areas.

Dr Bassma Kodmani from the Syrian National Council told the BBC's Jonathan Head that ''concrete measures'' are needed to address the ''humanitarian crisis'' in Syria.