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Updated at 4:09 p.m. ET: Amid escalating bloodshed in the Syrian city of Homs, the U.N. Security Council on Saturday failed to pass a resolution calling on the Syrian president to step down.
Russia and China vetoed the resolution endorsing an Arab League call for Bashar Assad to leave power. The other 13 council members, including the U.S., France and Britain, voted in favor of the resolution.
The vote took place as Syrian forces pummeled the city of Homs with mortar and artillery fire that activists say killed more than 200 people in one of the bloodiest episodes of the uprising against Assad's regime. The U.N. says more than 5,400 people have been killed over almost 11 months in a Syrian government crackdown on civilian protests.
NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
"The United States is disgusted that a couple of members of this Council continue to prevent us from fulfilling our sole purpose here -- addressing an ever-deepening crisis in Syria and a growing threat to regional peace and security," said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
"This is a great disappointment to the people of Syria and the Middle East, and to all supporters of democracy and human rights," a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. "It undermines the role of the United Nations and the international community in this period when the Syrian authorities must hear a unified voice calling for an immediate end to its violence against the Syrian people."
NBC's Richard Engel and Ali Arouzi report on the escalating tension between the two nations.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it had not been possible to work constructively with Russia ahead of the vote. "I thought that there might be some ways to bridge, even at this last moment, a few of the concerns that the Russians had. I offered to work in a constructive manner to do so. That has not been possible,'' she told reporters at a security conference in Munich.
Syria has been a key Russian ally since Soviet times and Moscow has opposed any U.N. call that could be interpreted as advocating military intervention or regime change.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that he was encouraged by statements about "the intention to continue diplomatic efforts" and noted that the Security Council is "not the only diplomatic tool on the planet."
Churkin said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the country's foreign intelligence chief, Mikhail Fradkov, will meet with Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, without providing specifics on the purpose of that trip.
Russia had expressed concerns about the draft text, saying it feared the resolution would lead to the kind of military intervention and regime change seen in Libya after last year's council action intended to protect civilians from attacks by forces loyal to strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
A view of houses that residents said were damaged during a military crackdown on protesters against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Rasten near Homs.
After Saturday's vote, Churkin accused fellow council members of being inflexible.
"We greatly regret this result of our joint work" on the resolution, he said.
Earlier, President Barack Obama issued a statement calling the latest attack on Homs "an unspeakable assault" by Assad's regime.
"Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now. He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately," Obama said.
"The Syrian regime's policy of maintaining power by terrorizing its people only indicates its inherent weakness and inevitable collapse," Obama said. "Assad has no right to lead Syria, and has lost all legitimacy with his people and the internationalcommunity."
The violence in Homs sparked protests in several cities outside Syria.
British police used batons and riot shields to try to hold back protesters trying to storm the Syrian Embassy in London. "We want to close the embassy!" demonstrators shouted.
Police brought in sandbags and riot gear to regain control of the surging crowd, which lobbed objects at the embassy, situated near Buckingham Palace.
Slideshow: Stuggle in Syria
In all, anti-Assad demonstrators stormed at least five embassies in Europe and the Middle East.
The Asociated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Wouldn't ya think there are enougn problems in our own country....we should just mind our own damn business for a change.
I'm more concerned about the humans we elect to DC long before I'm concerned about Syrian humans! Let them eat cake! We ate it back in the 1600 an1700's.
Devil.......has it right. lets worry about getting rid of the anti-american leaders we have running this country.
More proof that the UN is a mega monster of uselessness. What is the point of having a UN when absolutely nothing gets done and they always and I mean always make it worse. Some of the programs from the UN that help people might be OK but even they are filled with rapist and crooks as we have discovered.
Sickening. Sign held up by protester reads, "If you do not help us, we will be killed." News flash above that - Russia and China veto Assad's stepping down (as if he would anyway). In other words, "They will not help you - you will be killed." What a f--king world.
Russia and China have Syrian blood on their hands, period.
America, of course, has no blood on its hands, right?
UN = useless waste of taxpayer monies!
Same @!$%#, different day, different country. "If you don't help us we will die", the little boy's sign says? Tough!!!! We've played that game, again and again and again. WE"RE DONE. Save your own asses. I'm tired of rescuing these lousy creeps who then turn around and call us Imperialist, Occupiers. Let them live under tyranny. It's what they deserve. These people have shown, by way of Iraq and Afghanastan that they NEED a despot to keep order. They don't want nor do they deserve democracy and we need to stop sacrificing our young men and women for these idiots. Let them die.
How can you say, "Tough!" and "Die!" to a child? You might not believe this, but you know what? You would fit right in with the Taliban.
It's very hard Shandril, but we say it all the time regardless, Patricia's post is spot on.
You are right. If they are killing each other they won't be killing us. It' a win win .
Obama....That area of the world is unstable and it will remain unstable....Quit adding to their problems. 30thou civilians were killed(so far) in your Libyan war and there is no realization that people are better off because of it. Egypt is spiraling down into chaos and that country is much worse off because of it. Your build up of the Afghanistan war(the tripleing of our troops) has resulted in record deaths of our soldiers....We dont need our country cheering on this craziness....or paying for it with more debt and dead soldiers.
The Apocalypse is coming! "lifting of the veil" or "revelation") is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, When Satan comes back to this earth he will have supernatural powers able to do miracles that will deceive many. He will be able to have lightning come down from heaven And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: What is in our foreheads? Our brain, our mind, that which we use to think. What this is saying is that people will receive a mark in their mind and that mark is deception Believing that the 1st one that comes to this earth with supernatural powers is Jesus Christ. The 1st one back with supernatural powers is not Jesus Christ but Satan himself. 1954 Greada Treaty it's the treaty signed between Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Greys, ... in return for bits and pieces of their technology, we would provide them with abductees Congress added the words "In God We Trust" on all paper money. ... In February 1954 Planet X is the key to the survival of mankind...Nibiru is know biblically as the Kingdom of Heaven or the Holy City,where the angels and God himself reside,and also were Jesus will be at the 2nd coming..Nibiru was the home of satan and the fallen angels before they rebelled. Satan and the fallen angels are locked away INSIDE earth until the Planet X returns(judgement day),then afterwards the devil will be let loose and rule the world for 3.5 years...He will be captured and locked away after the 3.5 years NASA is SAtAN..they are a fraud,they are liars,and are really hiding the truth,contrary to what they say and do.There was a meeting of governments way back in 1975 in Britain, at that meeting it was made known that the ''greys'' were totally uninterested in our welfare except for their own needs. It was also made known that the ''greys'' reside on the Moon, under our oceans and under our ground look very much like the creatures in the movie, ''Fire in the Sky.'' Human, Dolphin and Sea Turtle. Bin' around for ages. Live underground. Under the Sea. Manipulate Mankind forever." They are the ELVES!!!!! They are the war makers and doers of all evil!!!! They are Con-Trolled by a group of Humans that have been enjoying technologies........... such as we are now just scraping the surface of......... for eons.
You lost me within the first four words of your blather...
I read the last 4 Shandril I don't think we missed anything ;)
Maybe they should have a resolution concerning Mexico there's more dead down there but you don't see them having a meeting and possible united military action over Mexico, isn't something obvious?
well said. the un is a mafia. corrupt, inept and self serving.
Money > People
Once again our media is not telling us the truth or is only showing us one side of the issue. The majority of Syrians are not for the opposition. They are just supporting the agenda for intervention and regime change, like in Lybia where hundreds of thousands were killed by NATO bombings with the pretext of providing humanitarian assistance.
Andy-The MSM (media) in the US is very biased. Obviously it has corporate interests in mind. The flavor of the day is to vilify Russia. I suppose the US oil companies want all that Russian oil (they pump more oil then Saudi Arabia).
I applaud Russia and China for resisting the attempts of the usual suspects from engaging in more manipulation and arrogant interference in the middle east from the usual characters--mainly the good ol usa.
thanks to Russia and China, some sense in the hypocrisy of the western democracies and the oil kingdom states.
More proof that China, Russia and others wish to see the loss of innocent unarmed civilians! My only wish is that China, Russia and others who failed to help be faced with civil unrest in their countries until they're removed like a cancerous tumor. I wish there was some way Americans could punish the Chinese, Russian leaders by no longer doing any business with them whatsoever.
F*ck Russia and China! They are not our friends , We seriously should move without their approval into Syria! In fact, we should go into Iran next and put all those Piss colored people in thier place!
China owns a trillion worth of our debt. They could probably collapse our economy in a day if they wanted. They could shut down all those WalMart factories in China and WalMart shelves would go empty in a few weeks... China has us by the nuts.
Rob: Don't wet your pants.... America can stand on its own NO MATTER HOW BAD IT GETS..... To Hell with Russian leadership and Chinese leadership.
Thank you Woodrow Wilson for laying the foundation on which this useless, feckless and utterly corrupt organization called the United Nations could be established. It serves absolutely no constructive purpose when needed and it's only goals are to prop up two-bit dictators, oppose U.S. interests, perpetuate misery and bleed the American people of their hard earned cash. Time to withdraw and abolish this charade.....
Why are you so down on the UN. They want to take action. They want to pass a resolution to rebuke Assad. Rebuke =to express sharp, stern disapproval of. Now that is A C T I O N. I guess the next move to justify the existence of that useless organization is to express the desire to really strongly condemn the actions of the Syrian president.
The organization should be moved to where? France. France would be a good place. Let the purveyors of freedom provide a place for useless discussion about the same subject over and over again.
The only thing that the UN has accomplished is draining this country of its. The United States funds 22% of this farce. China funds a little over 3% and Russia does even show up in the top 10 contributors. Even Mexico for cryin' out loud donates over 2% and are in the top 10. The budget in 2009 was almost $14 billion, This is BUL$HIT!!!
Move the organization and turn the building into a homeless shelter. If the taxpayer has to fund over a billion dollars it might as well be for something worthwhile.
BAD Assad. Bad, bad dictator! (Hits him with rolled up newspaper.) Just for killing all those people you have to go to your room without any falafel.
as i've posted many times before for you republican clowns-we'll have obama for four more years and you all will shut the fu@@ up and like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yikes....imagine having to put up with the acerbic wit from the likes of Monty for 4 more years....not to mention the meaningless drivel that characterizes the community organizer. Intolerable,....if that's not incentive enough to get out the vote, I don't know what is.
no we won't shut the f*ck up and no we won't like it HA! How ya like THEM apples? *insert eye roll here*
truer words were never spoken.
Why is the US in EVERYONE's business? JUST GET OUT! Let these people go off and kill themselves, let their countries fail, etc.. Who really cares. We have enough issues at home (have you seen the field of Republican candidates). Its time to pull back... Our debt is over $15 trillion and that doesn't even include personal debts (mortgage, etc)... We can't afford to be playing these stupid games.
Just tit for tac , America will blindly back Israel no matter what she does and Russia and China will back her enemy's just because they can
Very good to see Russia and China balancing power in the World. It will be to the benefit of the entire globe to see America not be the one and only bully on the block.
That money making war machine must continue to churn, destruction for profit. No matter how many lives are lost.
If anyone can boycott as much Russian and Chinese products that you can... I know everything comes from friggin' China... All we can do is try to avoid anything imported from these dirt-bags...
Critical times hard to deal with, will be here.
George: I hate to say it.... I agree.