Five containers full of clothes and other supplies collected by the Maltese will next week be shipped to Syrian refugees who are refugees in Jordan.

Syrian activist Imad Abdullah this afternoon thanked the Maltese for their support and appealed for international military intervention to stop the "slaughter" in Syria.

"This is our demand," he said, as he described the horrors he witnessed first-hand before escaping Homs to seek humanitarian help.

The collection was held on the initiative of the General Workers' Union which hosted Mr Abdullah and his colleagues from the NGO Spring, which was officially set up last month in response to the humanitarian crisis developing in Syria.

"We are smuggling medicines and baby milk because the Assad government refuses permission for any aid," Mr Abdullah said.

Hospitals had been completely taken over by the forces of the Syrian government and even doctors are helping to execute any wounded protestors, Mr Abdullah claimed.

He also appealed for money to be sent to Syrian civilians so they can bribe soldiers into given them supplies.

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb thanked the Maltese for their support and explained that the initiative came about thanks to the participation of the union's Arab members.

With the help of the Civil Protection Department, and many Maltese, the GWU filled four containers with clothes, half a container of water and half a container of food, together with some medicines.

The containers will be shipped through Egypt.

Mr Zarb said medicine will continue to be collected for future shipments.

"They have even asked for thread to be used for stitches," a GWU spokesman said, explaining how dire the situation is.