UN postpones Syria vote

Barack Obama (L) and Vladimir Putin (R)

The UN Security Council yesterday postponed a vote on a Western-drafted resolution calling for sanctions against Syria following a request from international envoy Kofi Annan to give time to diplomatic solution to the crisis, diplomats said.
A threat by Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's key ally, to veto the resolution has sparked new Security Council tensions on Syria.
The vote on the resolution is now expected in the morning today, while the five permanent members of the council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and United States -- hold more negotiations on the Syria crisis, diplomats said.
Annan sent a message to the Security Council powers asking for the delay a few hours before the scheduled vote. The UN-Arab League envoy "feels it is still possible to get a compromise with Russia on the resolution," said one council diplomat.
Meanwhile, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama were unable to resolve their differences on Syria in a phone talk yesterday following a Damascus bomb attack that killed 3 top security chiefs of the regime, the Kremlin said.
"Differences in approaches remain that concern practical steps in achieving a settlement," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The bomb struck at the heart of Syria's senior command Wednesday in an attack claimed by rebels, amid fighting in the capital city.
The Kremlin spokesman provided few details of the phone call except to say that it was initiated by Obama and included a "detailed discussion of Syria in which the recent escalation was noted".
Peskov said the conversation showed that the two leaders "have a coinciding view of the general satiation in Syria (and agree) on the end goal of reaching a settlement."
Britain, backed by the United States, France, Germany and Portugal, has proposed non-military sanctions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter if President Bashar al-Assad does not halt the use of heavy weapons within 10 days of a resolution being passed.
Despite the vote delay, there was no sign that Russia has withdrawn its veto threat. "We cannot accept Chapter VII and the section about sanctions," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow.
The mandate of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria, or UNSMIS, ends tomorrow and without a resolution the UN may have to hurriedly withdraw the nearly 300 unarmed observers now in Damascus.