As Syrian troops fired on rebellious factions and the civilian death toll continued to mount on Tuesday, Russia slammed a draft United Nations resolution demanding that Syrian President Bashar Assad step aside.
The draft resolution, sponsored by some Arab League nations and Western countries, calls on Assad to halt the bloody crackdown on protesters and launch an Arab peace plan that would see him hand over power to his vice-president.
Syria would be required to allow the formation of a unity government that would enable elections to take place. The draft lays out a 15-day timeline for Assad to act, after which the Security Council would consider "further measures."
But Russia has made it all but certain it intends to veto the draft resolution when it comes before the Security Council, likely not until Wednesday.
"The Western draft Security Council resolution on Syria does not lead to a search for compromise," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov wrote Tuesday on Twitter. "Pushing this resolution is a path to civil war."
Russia has been one of Assad's strongest allies since the uprising first began in Syria 11 months ago.
In October, Russia first blocked a Security Council attempt to condemn Syria's violent crackdown on protesters.
The new draft resolution, Moscow fears, could lead to military intervention in Syria, similar to what occurred in Libya during Moammar Gadhafi's crackdown on rebels.
Canada reduces staff
As tensions rise in Syria, Canada reduced its diplomatic staff in the country to core personnel only.
"Canada's embassy remains open and continues to offer limited services in Damascus and in Aleppo through our honorary consulate," Foreign Minister John Baird said in a statement.
"However, due to travel restrictions imposed by the Syrian authorities and the ongoing deterioration of the security situation, our ability to help Canadians in other locations in the country has been significantly reduced."
Foreign Affairs continues to urge all Canadians to leave Syria.
Tense diplomacy
CTV's Washington Bureau Chief Paul Workman said the Arab League, and opposition parties within Syria, are both calling for meetings with the Russians "to try and persuade them that if the regime falls Russia will still have friends in the new Syrian government."
CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief Martin Seemungal, reporting from Hebron, in the West Bank, said the political situation is tense.
While opposition members within Syria are willing to sit down with the Assad government and work out a solution, supporters outside the country are taking a hard-line stance and calling for his resignation.
"That's just not going to happen," Seemungal told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel. "The Russians aren't going to allow it and Assad isn't going to allow it, so we're into a stalemate here."
On Tuesday, some of the most intense violence in Syria took place in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs, a city known for its opposition to the regime.
There were reports of shelling, machine gun fire and thick black smoke rising from the area.
Activists said pro-Assad forces struck a pipeline, causing an explosion, but details were not clear.
Rebels had briefly taken control of the eastern suburbs of Damascus, but regime forces quickly re-established control of the area on Monday in a bloody crackdown that left around 100 people dead. The UN estimates that 5,400 people have been killed in the Syrian government crackdown.
That death toll made Monday one of the deadliest days since the uprising began in March, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group.
On Tuesday, government forces moved into two towns still in the rebels' possession.
"Intense shooting was heard in Zamalka and Arbeen as the tanks advanced," the Observatory said, citing its network of sources on the ground. Regime forces made sweeping arrests in the nearby town of Rankous, activists said.
Military defectors gained full control of Rastan Tuesday after days of intense clashes, according to a town activist who spoke to The Associated Press. He refused to give his full name, fearing reprisal.
Syrian troops have twice retaken the town from army defectors.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called on Assad to stop the killings. Speaking in Jordan, he said he hopes Security Council members reach a consensus on Syria.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the British and French foreign ministers were heading to New York to push for an agreement on the draft.
"The status quo is unsustainable," Clinton said, saying the Assad regime was preventing a peaceful transition and warning that the resulting instability could "spill over throughout the region."
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the situation in Syria was 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 Tuesday, shortly before flying to New York.
However, Juppe ruled out military intervention in Syria, agreeing with Moscow that outside intervention could cause politically divided communities in Syria to turn against each other in civil war.
With files from The Associated Press
