Our meeting was courteous but frank on both sides. We repeatedly questioned him on indigenously made "barrel bombs" and their indiscriminate use, torture in prisons, attacks on hospitals and other matters. We asked him about plans for a peaceful end to the conflict, greater democracy and a Bill of Rights. We urged on him, the Armed Forces and the armed Opposition the protection of unarmed civilians. We were given responses that were more or less detailed and promised further information. Many of the things he mentioned were later confirmed by others. For example, the Association of Doctors told us that there are over 3000 doctors working in Aleppo, 250 paediatricians, six active public hospitals and many more private ones. The whole of government-controlled Aleppo, in spite of constant rebel shelling, is working normally and is quite unlike pictures of Aleppo shown on our TV screens. Lattakia, similarly, has successfully absorbed large numbers of internal refugees or internally displaced people, as have other cities.

One of the problems with allegations of government abuse is that they often come from unverifiable sources, within rebel held territory or from exiles outside the country. They should be treated with caution. One of the British journalists we talked to described the Syrian Army as a "clean" and professional one. In the course of a brutal war, I am sure there are abuses on all sides, and the government cannot be excused from having committed atrocities. However, the vast majority of Syrian people, especially religious and ethnic minorities, do not want Assad replaced by an Islamist regime.