Russia under pressure at UN to end backing for Assad’s regime

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the British and French foreign ministers have travelled to New York for the Security Council session on the situation in Syria.

Nabil Elaraby, the chief of the Arab League, and Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, are also due to brief council members. It was unclear last night, however, if the high-level push would succeed.

Russia, a permanent member of the council, has objected to the draft, which is backed by Western and some Arab powers, and is expected to veto any strong action against Damascus.

“The Western draft Security Council resolution on Syria does not lead to a search for compromise,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov wrote yesterday on Twitter. “Pushing this resolution is a path to civil war.”

Russia has been one of Assad’s strongest backers as he brutally crushes an uprising that began nearly 11 months ago. In October, Moscow vetoed the first Security Council attempt to condemn Syria’s crackdown and has shown little sign of backing down.

Russia says it worries the new measure could lead to military action and regime change, just as an Arab-backed UN resolution led to Nato airstrikes in Libya.

Backers of the draft point out that it says specifically that “nothing ... compels states to resort to the use of force or the threat of force.”

An actual vote on the draft resolution was considered unlikely until later this week.

The bloodshed in Syria has increased in recent days as Western and Arab countries step up the pressure on Russia.

The UN estimates more than 5,400 people have been killed since last March in the Syrian government crackdown.

The draft resolution demands Assad halt the crackdown and implement an Arab League peace plan calling for him to hand over power to his vice president. If Assad fails to comply within 15 days, the council would consider “further measures,” a reference to a possible move to impose economic or other sanctions.

Yesterday, activists said Syrian troops are crushing pockets of resistance on the outskirts of Damascus as they advance into suburbs held by rebels.

Government forces regained control of most of the capital’s eastern suburbs on Monday after dissident soldiers briefly captured the territory last week.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “intense shooting” was heard in Zamalka and Arbeen as the tanks and troops advanced.

However, army defectors gained full control of the central town of Rastan yesterday after days of intense clashes.

But some of the most intense violence on Tuesday was in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs, a center of opposition to the regime, with reports of shelling and machine-gun fire.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe described what is happening in Syria as a “scandal.”

Assad “has blood on his hands, so it’s not possible that he continues to assume responsibilities,” he told French radio Europe-1 yesterday, shortly before flying to New York for the UN Security Council meeting.

But he ruled out military action, saying “things are very different from what happened in Libya.”

A French official said the draft U.N. resolution has the support of 10 of the Security Council’s 15 members, meaning Russia or China would have to use the veto power to stop it.