The European Commission said on Thursday that the head of Syria's regime, Bashar al-Assad, had suspended special visas for European Union diplomats to Damascus.
"The Bashar al-Assad regime has suspended multiply entry visas," a spokeswoman told a regular Commission briefing. "We are continuing as the EU ... to do whatever we can to avoid it having an impact on the important work we are doing on the ground."
The special permission to use multiple-entry Syrian visas for access to Damascus was rescinded at the start of January with no explanation from the Syrian regime, EU diplomats told Reuters earlier this week, complicating efforts to distribute humanitarian aid to civil war victims.
Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded in the al-Adawi neighborhood of Syria's capital on Thursday causing damage but no casualties, regime media said.
Syrian state news agency SANA called it a "terrorist explosion" and gave no further details.
