Syrian President Bashar Al Assad watches as Pope John Paul II boards his plane at Damascus airport May 8, 2001 at the end of the Pontiff's four-day visit to Syria.

Actors wearing masks of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin perform with body bags during a demonstration outside United Nations headquarters on January 24, 2011 in New York City. Protesters called on the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution to attempt to halt al-Assad's crackdown on the Syrian uprising. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Tajammu Al-Ezza brigade fighters react while firing a Grad shell towards forces of Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad stationed in Salhab village, Hama countryside, May 7, 2015. (Photo by Mohamad Bayoush/Reuters)

A man carries an injured girl after what activists said were five air strikes by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Douma, eastern al-Ghouta, near Damascus September 11, 2014. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

A man carries an injured civilian at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Duma neighbourhood of Damascus December 27, 2014. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

A man carries an injured child amidst rubble near a burning vehicle in a site damaged from what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria December 30, 2015. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

A rebel fighter carries his weapon as he moves through a hole in a wall in the old city of Aleppo near the frontline against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad December 28, 2014. (Photo by Jalal Al-Mamo/Reuters)

An injured boy who is undergoing surgery, after he was injured in what activists said was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, rests inside a field hospital in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus, Syria December 5, 2015. Douma in Syria, an area controlled by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, has been shelled continuously for the past three years. The injured are taken to basements and shelters transformed into field hospitals run by medical staff who have stayed in the battered neighbourhood of Damascus. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)