Aid groups will meet at the United Nations in Geneva next week to discuss how to help Syrians caught up in the bloodshed, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday, March 2, AFP reported.

The "humanitarian forum" organized by OCHA, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the European Commission's humanitarian aid service will take place March 8, spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said.

The United Nations has repeatedly called on the regime of President Bashar Assad to allow access to humanitarian groups, particularly to areas such as the battered city of Homs.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was headed to Homs on Friday to assist civilians after regime forces overran the Baba Amr neighborhood.