Western governments ratcheted up the pressure for UN Security Council action against Syria on Wednesday with France branding blocking moves by China and Russia "indecent."
US President Barack Obama said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had no legitimacy after repeatedly ducking opportunities for reform,We processes for both low-risk and hypodermic needle cannula. as ties between Damascus and Western governments nosedived after pro-regime protesters attacked the US and French embassies.
An explosion, meanwhile, hit a pipeline in northeastern Syria in the first attack on the country's energy infrastructure since unprecedented protests against Assad's rule erupted in mid-March, state media and activists said.
France, which with other European governments has been circulating a draft resolution at the Security Council for months only to see it blocked by veto-wielding permanent members China and Russia, said it was vital the world body take action over Assad's deadly crackdown on dissent.
"It is indecent because Bashar al-Assad has mobilised incredible resources to neutralise his opposition," said Defence Minister Gerard Longuet.
"Countries... like China... and Russia must accept common rules -- one does not deal with one's opposition with cannon fire," he told the LCI news channel.
Human rights groups say Syrian security forces have killed at least 1,300 civilians and arrested more than 12,000 in a crackdown in which security service agents backed by troops have gone house-to-house to crush any display of dissent.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Monday that it was "no longer acceptable" that Russia and China were allowed to block the draft resolution on Syria.
Obama told CBS television that Assad had "missed opportunity after opportunity to present a genuine reform agenda.
"More broadly, I think that increasingly you're seeing President Assad lose legitimacy in the eyes of his people," Obama said.
Washington had made it clear "that what we've seen on the part of the Syrian regime has been an unacceptable degree of brutality directed at its people," the US president said.
Mobs attacked the US and French embassies on Monday after the ambassadors of the two Western countries last week travelled to the flashpoint protest city of Hama, north of the capital.
Russia, however, stressed it remained firmly opposed to foreign interference in Syria and believed its regional ally could reach a political compromise to help end its crisis.
The Russian foreign ministry called on Assad's regime to release political prisoners not covered by previous amnesties.
"We are convinced of the Syrians' ability to reach a political consensus without violence and foreign interference," it said, welcoming last week's launch of a "national dialogue" in Damascus supported by the authorities.
The comments came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepared Wednesday to meet Obama in Washington.
And in a show of support on the regional front, Assad held talks in Damascus on Wednesday with the new Arab League chief, Nabil al-Arabi, on "developments in Syria," state television said.
Arabi told reporters the League "rejects any interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries and nobody can withdraw the legitimacy of a leader because it is up to the people to decide."
He also underlined that Syria's stability was essential for other Arab countries.
In Syria's main oil- and gas-producing region in Deir Ezzor province in the northeast, an explosion hit a gas pipeline near the town of Mayadin late on Tuesday, the director of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP in Nicosia.
State-owned Al-Ikhbariya television said it was an oil pipeline that was hit and that the blast had caused no casualties and only "limited damage".you will need to get an Cold Sore.
An oil ministry official, quoted by state news agency SANA, said a brushwood fire had spread to the pipeline which was undergoing maintenance at the time. Syria's oil production was not stopped, he said.
Syria's output runs at 380,000 barrels a day, according to official figures.
US President Barack Obama said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had no legitimacy after repeatedly ducking opportunities for reform,We processes for both low-risk and hypodermic needle cannula. as ties between Damascus and Western governments nosedived after pro-regime protesters attacked the US and French embassies.
An explosion, meanwhile, hit a pipeline in northeastern Syria in the first attack on the country's energy infrastructure since unprecedented protests against Assad's rule erupted in mid-March, state media and activists said.
France, which with other European governments has been circulating a draft resolution at the Security Council for months only to see it blocked by veto-wielding permanent members China and Russia, said it was vital the world body take action over Assad's deadly crackdown on dissent.
"It is indecent because Bashar al-Assad has mobilised incredible resources to neutralise his opposition," said Defence Minister Gerard Longuet.
"Countries... like China... and Russia must accept common rules -- one does not deal with one's opposition with cannon fire," he told the LCI news channel.
Human rights groups say Syrian security forces have killed at least 1,300 civilians and arrested more than 12,000 in a crackdown in which security service agents backed by troops have gone house-to-house to crush any display of dissent.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Monday that it was "no longer acceptable" that Russia and China were allowed to block the draft resolution on Syria.
Obama told CBS television that Assad had "missed opportunity after opportunity to present a genuine reform agenda.
"More broadly, I think that increasingly you're seeing President Assad lose legitimacy in the eyes of his people," Obama said.
Washington had made it clear "that what we've seen on the part of the Syrian regime has been an unacceptable degree of brutality directed at its people," the US president said.
Mobs attacked the US and French embassies on Monday after the ambassadors of the two Western countries last week travelled to the flashpoint protest city of Hama, north of the capital.
Russia, however, stressed it remained firmly opposed to foreign interference in Syria and believed its regional ally could reach a political compromise to help end its crisis.
The Russian foreign ministry called on Assad's regime to release political prisoners not covered by previous amnesties.
"We are convinced of the Syrians' ability to reach a political consensus without violence and foreign interference," it said, welcoming last week's launch of a "national dialogue" in Damascus supported by the authorities.
The comments came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepared Wednesday to meet Obama in Washington.
And in a show of support on the regional front, Assad held talks in Damascus on Wednesday with the new Arab League chief, Nabil al-Arabi, on "developments in Syria," state television said.
Arabi told reporters the League "rejects any interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries and nobody can withdraw the legitimacy of a leader because it is up to the people to decide."
He also underlined that Syria's stability was essential for other Arab countries.
In Syria's main oil- and gas-producing region in Deir Ezzor province in the northeast, an explosion hit a gas pipeline near the town of Mayadin late on Tuesday, the director of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP in Nicosia.
State-owned Al-Ikhbariya television said it was an oil pipeline that was hit and that the blast had caused no casualties and only "limited damage".you will need to get an Cold Sore.
An oil ministry official, quoted by state news agency SANA, said a brushwood fire had spread to the pipeline which was undergoing maintenance at the time. Syria's oil production was not stopped, he said.
Syria's output runs at 380,000 barrels a day, according to official figures.
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