UN chief makes first visit to Syria, calls for support

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during his first visit to Syria as UN chief yesterday appealed to the international community to support Syrians. His visit is the first by a UN secretary-general to the Syrian capital since 2009. Shortly after his arrival, Guterres held talks with Syrian Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, before taking a tour of the old quarter of Damascus and the famous Umayyad Mosque. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, right, shakes hands with Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani at the UN headquarters in New York on April 28 last year. Photo: Reuters Guterres’ visit to Syria comes as the country is trying to recover from the deadly conflict that broke out in March 2011 that has left nearly half a million people dead and ca