U N Security Council fails to pass resolution on Syria CNN com - U.N. Security Council fails to pass resolution on Syria February 4, 2012 -- Updated 1855 GMT (0255 HKT) United Nations (CNN) -- As international anger grows over reports of mass carnage at the hands of the Syrian regime, a U.N. Security Council draft resolution condemning Syria failed to be adopted Saturday after veto-wielding... [more...]

U N Security Council fails to pass resolution on Syria CNN com - U.N. Security Council fails to pass resolution on Syria

February 4, 2012 -- Updated 1855 GMT (0255 HKT)

United Nations (CNN) -- As international anger grows over reports of mass carnage at the hands of the Syrian regime, a U.N. Security Council draft resolution condemning Syria failed to be adopted Saturday after veto-wielding members Russia and China voted against it.

Ambassadors from the other permanent members of the council -- the United States, France, and the United Kingdom -- said they were furious at Russia and China for failing to halt the worsening, bloody violence that has consumed the Middle Eastern nation.

Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution.

The Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian opposition group, said 90 people had been killed in Syria on Saturday, including 61 in Homs, 10 in Idlib, and 19 in a Damascus suburb.

In a strongly worded statement before the vote, U.S. President Barack Obama said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost all legitimacy and that the international community "must work to protect the Syrian people from this abhorrent brutality."

He pointed the finger directly at al-Assad and what he called his "killing machine."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the vote was a lost opportunity to halt the violence. The resolution would have demanded that al-Assad stop the killing and answer international calls aimed at finding a Syrian-led solution to the crisis.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the resolution supported Arab League efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria.

"It did not impose any sanctions, nor did it authorize military action," Hague said. "There was nothing in the draft to warrant opposition." [less...]