The United Nations on Wednesday said it had withdrawn all non-essential staff from Syria, as President Bashar al-Assad pushes on with a brutal crackdown on protests across the country.
"We have pulled more than 20 personnel out of Syria, all of whom are non-essential United Nations staff," said the office of UN Lebanon representative Michael Williams, who is scheduled to arrive at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
The UN Security Council on Thursday will hold a special session on Syria, with the participation of the UN's Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay.
Rights groups say Assad's crackdown on anti-regime protestors has killed almost 2,000 civilians since mid-March.
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