BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Western and Arab countries responded with outrage on Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the veto a "travesty." The vote came a day after activists say Syrian forces bombarded the city of Homs, killing more than 200 people in the worst night of bloodshed of the 11-month uprising.
Russia said the resolution was biased and would have meant taking sides in a civil war. Syria is Moscow's rare ally in the Middle East, home to a Russian naval base and a customer for its arms. China's veto was widely seen as following Russia's lead.
Washington's U.N. ambassador Susan Rice said she was "disgusted" by Russia and China's vetoes, and "any further bloodshed that flows will be on their hands."
Britain's Foreign Minister William Hague said Moscow and Beijing had turned their backs on the Arab world. France's Alain Juppe said they "carried a terrible responsibility in the eyes of the world and Syrian people."
All 13 other members of the Security Council voted to back the resolution, which would have "fully supported" an Arab League plan under which Assad should cede powers to a deputy, withdraw troops from towns and begin a transition to democracy.
The Western criticism was echoed in the Middle East, where Arab powers like Saudi Arabia and non-Arab Turkey have turned decisively against Assad in recent months.
"Unfortunately, yesterday in the U.N., the Cold War logic continues," said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "Russia and China did not vote based on the existing realities but more a reflexive attitude against the West."
Arab League head Nabil Elaraby said the body still intends to build support for its plan. The veto "does not negate that there is clear international support for the resolutions of the Arab League," he said in a statement seen by Reuters.
The Security Council's sole Arab member, Morocco, voiced "great regret and disappointment" at the veto. Ambassador Mohammed Loulichki and said the Arabs had no intention of abandoning their plan.
Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition umbrella Syrian National Council, called Moscow and Beijing's veto "a new license to kill from these two capitals for Bashar al-Assad and his criminal regime, which just yesterday killed 300 people."
The SNC said it held Moscow and Beijing "responsible for the escalating acts of killing and genocide."
Protesters stormed Russia's embassy in Libya's capital Tripoli on Sunday, climbing on the roof and tearing down the flag. Men held up a banner saying: "Libyan revolutionaries are ready to fight with their brothers in Syria."
MOSCOW SAYS RESOLUTION BIASED
Russia's U.N. envoy, Vitaly Churkin, accused the resolution's backers of "calling for regime change, pushing the opposition towards power and not stopping their provocations and feeding armed struggle."
"Some influential members of the international community, unfortunately including those sitting around this table, from the very beginning of the Syrian process have been undermining the opportunity for a political settlement," he said. Moscow is sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Damascus on Tuesday.
Clinton had met Lavrov on Saturday before the vote for what U.S. officials called "vigorous" talks to try to persuade Russia to drop its veto. She said she had hoped to reach consensus.
Syria says it is being targeted by the West and by hostile neighbors providing diplomatic cover for an armed insurgency steered from abroad.
Syrian U.N. envoy Bashar Ja'afari criticized the resolution and its sponsors, which included Saudi Arabia and seven other Arab states, saying nations "that prevent women from attending a soccer match" had no right to preach democracy to Syria.
He also denied that Syrian forces killed hundreds of civilians in Homs, saying "no sensible person" would launch such an attack the night before the Security Council was set to discuss his country.
State television showed live footage of Assad on Sunday praying with Muslim clerics and listening to Koranic verses in a Damascus mosque to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad.
Residents of Homs's battered Baba Amro district, speaking by telephone, denounced the Russian-Chinese veto, some chanting, "Death, rather than disgrace."
One resident who identified himself as Sufyan said: "Now we will show Assad. We're coming, Damascus. Starting today we will show Assad what an armed gang is." Assad has called his opponents "armed gangs" and "terrorists" steered from abroad.
BOMBARDMENT
If activists' accounts are accurate, the bombardment of Homs on Friday night was one of the bloodiest episodes of the Arab Spring uprisings sweeping the region and the deadliest incident in the Syrian conflict.
Syrian activist groups gave varying tolls above 200 killed, saying tanks and artillery blasted the Khalidiya neighborhood of Homs, a restive city that has become a heartland of resistance to Assad's rule.
Rami Abdullrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that as of late on Saturday he had a list of 128 names of people confirmed killed, which he said accounted for about half of the total death toll.
Damascus denies firing on houses and says images of dead bodies on the Internet were staged. Western governments say they believe the activists.
"Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement before the U.N. Security Council vote.
"Any government that brutalizes and massacres its people does not deserve to govern," Obama said.
There were reports of more violence on Sunday. Activist Omar Shakir, in the Baba Amro district of Homs, said there was new shelling on Sunday afternoon and three people had been killed.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Logan, Mariam Karouny and Dominic Evans in Beirut, Arshad Mohammed and Stephen Brown in Munich, Ahmed el-Shimy in Cairo, Caren Bohan and Katharine Jackson in Washington, Steve Gutterman in Moscow and John Irish in Paris; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood)