Martin Griffiths, UN under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Monday and discussed the need for aid.

Syrian state media, SANA, reports they talked about "urgent" humanitarian needs following the earthquake. 

"President al-Assad affirmed the need for bringing in the urgent aid to all areas in Syria including those that are subjected to occupation and the dominance of the armed terrorist groups," SANA reported.

"The President also stressed the necessity for the international efforts to concentrate on reconstructing infrastructure in Syria as this issue is an urgent need for the stability of the Syrian people and the return of Syrian refugees to their cities and regions," SANA reported.

What the UN is saying: Griffiths said earlier Monday that the UN will help move aid from government-controlled regions in Syria to the rebel-held northwest of the country.

"We'll have assistance moving from here to the northwest. But the northwest is only one part of Syria as you know,” Griffiths said.

A total of 58 interagency UN trucks carrying aid have crossed into northwestern Syria through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing from Turkey since Thursday, according to information provided by UNOCHA spokesperson Madevi Sun-Suon.

Remember: The delivery of urgent supplies to quake-hit areas of northern Syria has been complicated by a long-running civil war between opposition forces and Assad's government, who is accused of killing his own people. Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad says any aid it receives must go through the capital Damascus.