Exerting pressure of Moscow and Beijing, the US Secretary of State, Hiliary Clinton warned of the "terrible" danger of civil war.
Condemning reports of a Russian arms shipment as "reprehensible", Clinton said,
"The Russians keep telling us they want to do everything they can to avoid a civil war because they believe that the violence would be catastrophic," Clinton said.
"I think they are in effect propping up the regime at a time when we should be working on a political transition."
"A civil war in a country that would be riven by sectarian divides ... could then morph into a proxy war in the region because, remember, you have Iran deeply embedded in Syria,"