DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) – Syrian President Bashar Assad has called for Arab League action to help break Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip.

The Syrian News Agency says Assad expressed Syria’s deep concern over the “deteriorating situation in Gaza” during a meeting in Damascus Sunday with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

Israel has sealed Gaza’s border crossings since fighting erupted, barring badly needed goods and fuel from entering the impoverished territory. U.N. food supplies in Gaza have been depleted.

SANA said Assad stressed the need for the 22-member Arab League to take decisions at an Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo later this month to put an end to the Israeli siege.