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The head of the Syrian Olympic Committee, General Mowaffak Joumaa, has been refused a visa to travel to London for the Games, the BBC has learnt. It is understood the application has been refused because of his links to President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The decision was made at a recent meeting of senior officials from the Home Office, Foreign Office and Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The International Olympic Committee is expected to ratify the decision. "While not unexpected it will still be hugely controversial this, that the British government has decided to refuse his application," said BBC sports editor David Bond. The board of senior government officials had been assessing Gen Joumaa's application for a while and had reached a decision in the last few days, our correspondent said. After being informed of the government's decision earlier on Friday, it is the London Games organisers Locog that must now notify the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Our correspondent went on: "While this should be a formality given the circumstances, the IOC is very, very protective of these sorts of issues where politics and sports collide, and they will obviously have to make the final decision. "But it would be extremely unlikely, I think, that they would go against the decision made by the government in the first instance."