UN vote bad for Syria - Russia http://bbc.in/OOyUGR
'Strong message'
Russia voted "no" on Friday along with China, Syria, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Burma, Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Among those states abstaining were India and Pakistan.
Mr Churkin told the UN that the Saudi-drafted resolution concealed "blatant support for the armed opposition".
He said his country regretted the resolution which "only aggravates confrontational approaches to the resolution of the Syrian crisis, doing nothing to facilitate dialogue between the parties".
It was "written as if no armed opposition existed at all", he added.
Mr Churkin pointed out that the resolution called on the UN envoy to work towards a transition to democracy in Syria, yet the envoy's task had been to arrange dialogue, not regime change.
Russia and China have blocked three attempts in the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Damascus.
Syria's UN ambassador Bashar Jaafari spoke of ''blatant hypocrisy'' by those who co-sponsored the draft resolution
Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, suggested Saudi Arabia and fellow resolution sponsor Qatar were trying to act as both "a fireman and an arsonist at the same time".
The resolution expresses "grave concern" at the escalation of violence in Syria and deplores "the failure of the Security Council to agree on measures to ensure the compliance of Syrian authorities with its decisions".
It says it is up to the Syrian government to take the "first step in the cessation of violence".
Susan Rice, the US envoy at the UN, welcomed the passing of the resolution. The UN General Assembly "sent a strong message today: the overwhelming majority of nations stand with the people of Syria", she wrote on Twitter.
During the assembly's session, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the conflict in Syria had become a "proxy war" and called on powers to overcome their rivalries in an effort to end the violence.
'Explosions all day'Fighting raged in the Tadamon district of Damascus for a second day on Friday.
Eyewitnesses and activists say government forces used dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles to attack what is seen as the rebels' last stronghold in the capital.
Troops killed "several" rebels and wounded many more, Syrian state media reported.
"The bombs are back, I have been hearing explosions all day," a resident of central Damascus told the Associated Press news agency, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
Fighting has also continued in Aleppo, where government forces have been trying to reclaim areas seized by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the past two weeks.
Hundreds of people gathered in the al-Shaar neighbourhood to chanting "The people want the execution of Bashar!" and "The people want freedom and peace", AFP news agency reporter at the scene reports.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council that UN observers in Aleppo were seeing "a considerable build-up of military means, where we have reason to believe that the main battle is about to start"
