Europeans to Seek U.N. Vote on Syria Crackdown after Dropping ‘Sanctions’

European nations were to seek a vote on Tuesday on a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on protests.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal dropped the word "sanctions" from their draft text in a bid to win over council opponents but diplomats said it was unclear whether it would be enough to avoid a Russian veto.

Western governments and human rights watchdogs have expressed mounting criticism of the council's failure to adopt any resolution on Syria since protests erupted in March drawing an iron-fisted response from the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

More than 2,700 people have died in the crackdown, according to the U.N.'s own figures.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four more people were killed on Tuesday, one of them a civilian, in clashes near the Turkish border between troops and deserters unwilling to carry out orders to shoot on protesters.

Russia has said it will use its right as a permanent member of the council to veto any resolution which threatens sanctions against its longtime ally.

It has not said whether it will block the latest draft, which talks of "targeted measures" rather than overt sanctions.

"We just do not know what the Russians' plan is on this, but the time has come now to send a signal to President Assad," one European diplomat told Agence France Presse.

"We are ready to go ahead with a vote even if the Russians decide to veto. But the negotiations are now between capitals," another U.N. diplomat said.

Russia has proposed its own rival draft resolution with no threat of action. But this has not yet been formally proposed for a vote.

The current European draft "strongly condemns the continued grave and systematic human right violations by the Syrian authorities" and demands an immediate end to "all violence.”

The resolution would call for "targeted measures" if the Syrian government fails to comply within 30 days.

The Senate meanwhile unanimously confirmed the U.S. ambassador in Damascus, Robert Ford, who has won widespread praise for his outspoken highlighting of the crackdown, which has seen him physically attacked by regime supporters.

In a BBC interview Tuesday, Ford rejected claims by Damascus that Washington was leading Syria on the road to chaos, insisting that it was the government's "repression" against its own people that was stirring up more violence.

"The United States is asking only that the Syrian government respect the basic human rights of their own people as enshrined in the United Nations universal declaration of human rights," he said.