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This image from amateur video made available by Shaam News Network on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, purports to show a wounded man being treated at a field hospital in Homs, Syria. Syrian forces unleashed a barrage of mortars and artillery on the battered city of Homs for hours before dawn on Saturday, sending terrified residents fleeing into basements and killing scores of people in what appeared to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said. (AP Photo)
(Fox News) Russia and China vetoed a United Nations resolution Saturday calling on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, despite fresh appeals by President Obama and other world leaders following the deadly assault by Syrian forces on the city of Homs.
Activists say Syrian forces killed more than 200 people in what may be the bloodiest confrontation of the uprising against Assad's regime. Leading up to the U.N. Security Council meeting, Obama condemned the "unspeakable assault" and called on other nations to support the Arab League-backed resolution.
The other 13 members, including the U.S., France and Britain, supported the resolution. But Russia and China, which both have veto power, blocked the measure. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said the resolution made too few demands of anti-government armed groups, and that Moscow remains concerned that it could prejudge the outcome of a national dialogue among political forces in Syria.
The vote forces diplomats at the U.N. to try to work out what could be a more watered-down version, despite the new wave of violence in Syria.
The Homs assault sparked fierce international outcry ahead of Saturday's meeting. Obama, in perhaps his most forceful statement to date about the unrest in Syria, accused the Assad regime of having "murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children" in Homs. He called on Assad to step down, describing the violence as a sign of the regime's "inevitable collapse."
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