EU push for UN Syria condemnation fails

In southern Syria, 200 members of the ruling Baath party are reported to have resigned after violence around Deraa. Some 450 Syrians have allegedly been killed during six weeks of protests.

However, Russia is insisting that events in Syria are not a threat to global peace. During the Security Council meeting, China and India called for political dialogue and peaceful resolution of the crisis, but stopped short of condemning the violence.

Alexander Pankin, Russia's Ambassador to the UN, warned that a "real threat to regional security could arise from outside interference in Syria's domestic situation".

Moscow has also increasingly opposed military action in Libya, arguing that operations against Col Gaddafi's forces have been exceeded the scope of a Security Council resolution.

Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, said his government would resist external intervention in his country's affairs. “As a government we cannot accept that some claim to value the lives of our sons more than we do. The policies of interfering in affairs of other states through various justifications and pretexts have always proven to be erroneous," he said.

But US ambassador Susan Rice called on Syria to stop what it called the government's abhorrent violence, and on the international community to act. "My government calls on President [Bashar] Assad to change course now and heed the calls of his own people," said.

"We also call on the international community to respond to this brutal crackdown and to hold accountable those who are perpetrating these gross human rights violations," she added.

Both the US and the Europeans warned that, unless the demands for reform are heeded quickly, they will be pressing for additional sanctions.

The text proposed by the European states at the Security Council condemned the violence against civilians and backed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call for a "transparent" independent investigation into deaths in the protests.