White House advisor, OIC Secretary General discuss Syria's conflict

US Deputy National Security Advisor, Antony Blinken, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanaglu discussed the "deeply concerning" situation in Syria, the Obama administration confirmed. Blinken's meeting with the OIC Secretary-General touched on the ongoing fighting in the city of Qusayr, located near the Syrian border with Lebanon and rebels stronghold of the Syrian civil war. The meeting also pressed the need for a political solution and achieving peace in the Middle East, Burma, Afghanistan, and Iraq. They agreed to continue expanding cooperation between the OIC and the US on humanitarian crises, institutionalize collaboration in the United Nations, and promotion of religious tolerance and freedom of expression worldwide. The civil war in Syria is threatening the region's tenuous stability. More than 80,000 people have reportedly been killed so far in Syria's civil war and four million of Syria's 20 million Syrians have been displaced.