All 13 other members of the council voted February 4 in favor of the resolution that backs an Arab League plan calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit.
The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, accused a “couple members” on the Security Council of selling out the Syrian people.
“The international community must protect the Syrian people from this abhorrent brutality,” she said, “but a couple members of this council remain steadfast in their willingness to sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant.”
French Ambassador Gerard Araud said China and Russia were “complicit in the policy of repression carried out by the Damascus regime.”
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin accused some members of the international community of undermining any chance for reconciliation between Assads’ regime and his opponents.
“The decision of the Security Council should not be won because some influential members of the international community, including those sitting around this table, from the beginning of the Syrian process have been undermining the opportunity for political settlement, calling for a regime change, pushing the opposition towards power, and not stopping provocation and feeding armed methods of struggle,” Churkin said.
Demonstrators raise a vandalized poster of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as they take part in a protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Talbiseh.
Syria’s Ambassador Bashar Jaafari questioned reports of mass casualties in the city of Homs after shelling by government forces on the same day of the vote in the Security Council.
U.S. President Barack Obama accused Damascus of carrying out “an unspeakable assault” on Homs.
Activists there say up to 200 people were killed in the assault, although other reports spoke of much lower casualty figures.
However, a privately owned Syrian broadcaster, Ad Dounia TV, quoted residents of Homs as saying the city had been attacked by rebels with mortars.
Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said Paris is consulting with Arab and European countries to create a Syrian contact group to find a solution to the crisis.
Meanwhile, protesters attacked seven Syrian embassies around the world this weekend following the reports of the latest violence in Homs.
Protesters stormed Syrian diplomatic offices from London to Australia and set the embassy in Cairo on fire.
In Athens, 13 people were detained after forcing their way into the Syrian Embassy.
In Berlin, 20 people stormed Syria’s embassy and damaged offices.
Security personnel at Syria’s embassy in Kuwait were hurt in scuffles with demonstrators, while protesters in Tripoli hung the Syrian opposition flag on the embassy’s gate.
There also were protests in Tunisia, which ended its recognition of Assad’s government after what it called a “bloody massacre” in Homs.
Compiled from agency reports
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