E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSNBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
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:
Leave a Comment:
Syria buys weapons from Russia and China, wat do you expect?
Hopefully Russian nukes in the Syrians hands. The United Snakes (US/Israel) need to be taught the same lesson the Taliban has given the US/NATO aggressors.
Because the Duo were given NO choice but to veto the one-sided draft!! Otherwise a regime change game will slip in as in Libya. The globalist cartels are indeed attacking Iran through Syria.
Read more here:
(1) As Anger Over Russian Syria Veto Mounts, Putin "Briefly" Leaves Europe In The Cold (2/5/2012)
//h**p://www.zerohedge.com/news/anger-over-russian-syria-veto-mounts-putin-briefly-leaves-europe-cold//
(2) Security Council Showdown on Syria (2/4/2012)
//h**p://www.activistpost.com/2012/02/security-council-showdown-on-syria.html//
(3) Run-up to proxy war over Syria (2/6/2012)
//h**p://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/NB07Ad01.html//
(4) Syria and those 'disgusting' BRICS (2/6/2012)
//h**p://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB07Ak02.html//
(5) Exposed: The Arab agenda in Syria (2/4/2012)
//h**p://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NB04Ak01.html//
Some excerpt
Slowly things are coming to a head. America, Israel, rogue NATO partners, and regional despot allies are itching for a fight with Syria. Russia and China stand firmly opposed.
On February 3, Reuters headlined, "UN council to vote on Syria resolution Saturday," saying:
Britain's UN mission said the "UN Security Council is set to meet 9:00 a.m. Saturday. Plan is to vote on Syria resolution."
Reuters said "(o)ther missions confirmed the announcement."
On February 3, Deputy Foreign Minister Gannady Gatilov said resolution revisions were "not enough for us to be able to support...."
Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani accepts no further draft resolution changes, saying:
"The version which we have is the minimal which we can accept."
On February 4, Lebanon's Al-Manar satellite TV (Lebanese Media Group Company, Beirut) reported Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying:
"If they (the West) want yet another scandal on the Security Council for themselves then we cannot stop them."
At issue is an expected Saturday Security Council vote Russia opposes. Lavrov added:
"The draft does not suit us at all and I hope that is is not put to a vote."
Russia's views are well known. "There can be no doubt about the sense and the objectivity of (its) amendments. I hope that a prejudiced approach does not prevail over common sense," Lavrov stressed.
On February 4, AP headlined, "Russia warns UN vote on Syria will end in scandal," saying:
Interviewed on Russian state television, Lavrov was blunt, saying Russia's prepared to use its veto.
Calling the current Syrian resolution draft unacceptable, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gatilov said:
"Some of our concerns and the concerns of those who think the same as (we do) have been taken into consideration, but all the same (it's) not enough for us to be able to support it in this form."
AT ISSUE IS WHAT MAJOR MEDIA SCOUNDRELS IGNORE -- A WESTERN-BACKED, EXTERNALLY GENERATED INSURGENCY RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST VIOLENCE.
Washington plans regime change in Iran and Syria. At issue is replacing current leaders with pro-Western ones. Syria's target one to isolate Iran. Escalated measures against Tehran will follow.
Strategy involves whatever it takes to achieve longstanding objectives, including war. Pressure's building. Expect it perhaps later in 2012.
Meanwhile, conditions in Syria keep deteriorating. Under attack, its currency lost half its value. Ordinary people suffer most. Hunger and severe privation threaten. Escalated violence promises worse, including full-blown Western-backed war.
To achieve unchallenged Middle East hegemony, including control of its oil and gas resources, Washington won't quit until the entire region burns.
In 1970, Richard Nixon ordered making Chile under social democrat Salvador Allende "scream." Seventeen years of Pinochet's reign of terror followed.
Middle East plans today are worse, including full-blown war for control. Expect it, with or without Security Council help. Hardball Washington tactics don't compromise.
//h**p://www.activistpost.com/2012/02/security-council-showdown-on-syria.html//
This new piece by Pepe Escobar at the Asia Times has some important insights:
Some excerpts:
Russia has its own geopolitical reasons to consider Syria a red line; Syria hosts Russia’s only naval base in the Mediterranean, in the port of Tartus; and Syria buys Russian weapons. But in fact all the five BRICS - plus the overwhelmingly majority of the developing world - are in synch; forget about regime change-enabling UN resolutions, promoted by the usual suspect Western trio US-Britain-France and - the summit of hypocrisy - devised by the “democratic” House of Saud and Qatar.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be in Damascus this Tuesday to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and discuss a serious plan to try to end the bloodshed. Lavrov has calmly explained the reasons for the Russian veto.
He had sent Russian amendments to the draft resolution directly to Clinton; “The rationality and objectivity of these amendments should not cause anyone’s doubt.” But to no avail; the resolution remained “unilateral” - demanding nothing from Syrian anti-government armed groups. Lavrov stressed, “No president with self-respect, no matter how treated, will agree to surrender inhabited localities to armed extremists without resistance.” Imagine if Homs was in Texas.
Still, the SNC now holds Moscow and Beijing “responsible for the escalating acts of killing and genocide”, and facilitators of a “license to kill”. Lavrov is imperturbable; “We have repeatedly said that we are not protecting Assad but international law. The prerogative of the UN Security Council does not envision interference in internal processes.”
Homs: Who’s killing whom?
Syria’s UN ambassador Bashar Ja’afari strongly denied the opposition’s accusation of regime forces bombing the Khadiliya neighborhood in Homs with tanks and artillery and killing over 200 people - arguing that “no sensible person” would launch such an attack the night before the UN Security Council was discussing a resolution. Without any preliminary investigation, France called it a “massacre” and a “crime against humanity”. Like France’s performance during the Algerian war?
To understand what’s at stake, it’s crucial to keep in mind who’s defecting from the Syrian army. Syria’s top military - also members of the Ba’ath Party - are almost all Alawis, the folk Shi’ite sect (10% of the overall population). They are not defecting.
The defectors are overwhelmingly Sunni troops (70% of the overall population); they are forming militias, Libya-style, heavily infiltrated by mercenaries weaponized by the GCC, and fighting government troops. The government’s response has been to target the neighborhoods where the families of these defectors live. The center of Homs nowadays is controlled by the rebels.
Susan Rice (With her fat arse still running cover for AmeriKKKa's Jewish hemmorhoid by hiding the Gorldstone Report from the UNSC to avoid bringing the Jewish terrorists to account) sits there and speaks of the 'travesty of justice' in the Russian/Chinese veto of the US/UN/NATO's 'vile' plans of aggresion for Syria? in keeping the US/NATO 'baby killers - (AF/PAK) out of Syria as the United Snakes (US/Israel) continue arming the Syrian opposition and funding terrorism in Israel. The B/Witch should be 'burned at the stake!'
And that tells you all you need to know about China and Russia. F EM!, they are trash.
AZ cowboy is no doubt a syrian agent...lol, nice try.