“I want to highlight the noble efforts of the Iraqi Government and the people of Iraq to support Syrian refugees,” said the Hollywood actress, who is also a special envoy for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“At this juncture, it is critical that Iraq receives urgent international support and continues to welcome refugees across its borders,” she added.

More than 260,000 Syrian refugees have been registered in neighbouring countries since the conflict began in March 2011, according to UNHCR. Earlier this week, Ms. Jolie visited Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey with High Commissioner António Guterres, with both of them pledging continued support and emphasizing the life-saving importance of maintaining open borders and hosting Syrians in need.

More than 18,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began last year. Amidst reports of an escalation in violence in recent weeks in many towns and villages, as well as the country’s two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, UN agencies now estimate that some 2.5 million Syrians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

Jolie spent Sunday meeting with Syrian refugees in the Domiz camp in northern Iraq. She also met officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government, including the prime minister, the interior minister and the governor of Dohuk. Many of the officials she met were former refugees.

While in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Saturday, the special envoy met with senior government officials and spent time with Iraqis, until recently refugees in Syria, who have returned to Iraq after fleeing violence in their places of former refuge.

“The objectives of the Action Group for Syria are to identify steps and measures to secure full implementation of the six-point plan and Security Council resolutions 2042 and 2043, including an immediate cessation of violence in all its forms,” Mr. Annan said in a statement.

“The Action Group for Syria should also agree on guidelines and principles for a Syrian-led political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people; and agree on actions that will make these objectives a reality on the ground,” he added.

The Joint Special Envoy said that he had sent on Wednesday invitations to the Foreign Ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council – China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America – and Turkey, for the meeting this weekend.

In addition, invitations were also sent to the Secretaries-General of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Ban Ki-moon and Nabil Elaraby, respectively, and to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; as well as to the Foreign Ministers of Iraq, as Chair of the Summit of the League of Arab States; Kuwait, as Chair of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the League of Arab States and Qatar, as Chair of the Follow-up Committee on Syria of the League of Arab States.

“I look forward to a productive meeting this weekend, where we can all agree on concrete actions to end the cycle of violence and bring peace and stability to the Syrian people,” Mr. Annan said.

Amongst other things, the Council’s resolutions 2042 and 2043 dealt with the deployment of monitors, including those of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), which recently suspended the patrols of its observers due to the escalating violence on the ground.

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 16 months ago.

“There were no casualties among the observers, but several Syrian soldiers were injured and taken to hospital,” the spokesperson, Ahmad Fawzi, said in response to media questions in Geneva.

The observers are serving with the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), which was authorized by the Council last month, and is tasked with monitoring the cessation of violence in Syria and supporting the full implementation of a six-point plan put forward by Mr. Annan.

“[UNSMIS' Chief Military Observer] General Mood told reporters accompanying his convoy that this was an example of what the Syrian people were suffering on a daily basis and that all forms of violence must stop,” the spokesperson added.

Mr. Annan’s plan calls for an end to violence, access for humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need, the release of detainees, the start of inclusive political dialogue that takes into account the aspirations of the Syrian people, and unrestricted access to the country for the international media.

The crisis in Syria, which began in March 2011 as a protest movement similar to those across the Middle East and North Africa, has claimed over 9,000 lives, mostly civilians, and displaced tens of thousands.

One year ago, the statement noted, Syrians emboldened by the changing tide of history in their region stood up in the streets of Damascus to appeal for their universal rights and freedoms. Peaceful popular protests then began to spread across the country. “The Syrian authorities responded with brutal repression, which has continued unabated.”

Mr. Ban voiced his solidarity with the people of Syria and their legitimate aspirations to dignity, freedom and justice, and called for all violence to end and for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

He urged the Syrian Government and opposition to cooperate with the efforts of the Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States, Kofi Annan, who put forward proposals to end the crisis during his meetings in Damascus, including with President Bashar al-Assad, last weekend.

“I presented a set of concrete proposals which would have a real impact on the situation on the ground and which will help launch a process aimed at putting an end to this crisis,” Mr. Annan stated during the visit. “I told the President that my main preoccupation is the welfare of the Syrian people – that we should place the interests of the people at the centre of all our efforts.”

Tens of thousands of people have been caught up in the violence since the start of the uprising, which is part of the broader Arab Spring movement across North Africa and the Middle East.

“As intense fighting continues in Syria, and people are caught up in the violence, it is increasingly vital that humanitarian organizations have unhindered access to identify urgent needs and provide emergency care and basic supplies. There is no time to waste,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said in a statement.

Ms. Amos, who visited Syria last week to press for unhindered humanitarian access, said the authorities have now informed her that a Government-led mission will visit the governorates of Homs, Hama, Tartous, Lattakia, Aleppo, Dayr Az Zor, Rural Damascus and Deraa, starting this weekend.

A number of UN and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) technical staff will accompany the mission and take the opportunity to gather information on the overall humanitarian situation and observe first-hand the conditions in various towns and cities.

“I repeat my calls to the Government of Syria to allow humanitarian organizations unhindered access, so that they can help people in need, in a neutral and impartial manner,” said Ms. Amos, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Kofi Annan “has questions and is seeking answers,” said a statement issued by his spokesperson. “But given the grave and tragic situation on the ground, everyone must realize that time is of the essence,” it added. “As he said in the region, this crisis cannot be allowed to drag on.”

During his mission to Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Sunday, Mr. Annan urged President Bashar al-Assad to embrace change and reforms that will form the foundation for democracy in his country.

“The transformational winds blowing today cannot be long-resisted,” he said. “I have urged the President to heed the old African proverb: ‘you cannot turn the wind, so turn the sail.’ The realistic response is to embrace change and reform.”

He stressed that reforms would help build a “peaceful, stable, pluralistic and prosperous society, based on the rule of law and respect for human rights.” Discussions during the weekend meeting between Mr. Annan and Mr. Assad also focused on halting the violence, giving access to humanitarian agencies, and starting a political dialogue.

Thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising – part of the broader Arab Spring movement across North Africa and the Middle East – began in March last year.

In a related development, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) voiced serious concern over the availability of food in Syria, especially for vulnerable groups, as a result of the civil unrest in the country. FAO cited the figures from the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics that show that inflation rose by about 15 per cent between June and December last year, driven mainly by sharp increases in food prices and fuel shortages that have had an impact on transportation costs.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that about 1.4 million people have become food insecure since the unrest began, especially in hotspots such as Homs, Hama, Damascus, Dara’a and Idleb.

FAO and WFP are currently running an emergency operation providing food aid and vouchers to 100,000 people in Syria. Food, water and fuel are reportedly increasingly difficult to obtain in several areas and the situation is also affecting pastoralists, with reduced mobility for their herds and limited access to veterinary drugs and other supplies.

Some 300,000 small-scale farmers and herders in north-eastern provinces, which have already suffered four consecutive seasons of drought, are also affected by loss of opportunities from seasonal labour migration inside the country.

In addition, Syria’s cereal production is estimated to have dropped by almost 10 per cent last year following late and erratic rains, and the outlook for this year’s winter harvest, which starts in May, is uncertain given possible disruption of farm activities and limited access to inputs as a result of insecurity, according to FAO.