Russia and China boycotted UN Security Council talks on a draft resolution condemning Syria's deadly crackdown on opposition protests, diplomats said Monday.

European powers stepped up their campaigning meanwhile for the resolution with one top envoy saying the delay in Security Council action has cost hundreds of lives in Syria.

Russia and China strongly oppose UN action against President Bashar al-Assad and could veto any resolution. "They knew about Saturday's talks but they chose not to turn up," said a council diplomat.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal first distributed a resolution condemning the Syrian military crackdown two weeks ago.

Confident they have nine votes on the 15 member Security Council they are now focusing, with US support, on lobbying Brazil, South Africa and India who have also expressed reservations. Lebanon has said it will oppose the resolution.

The Europeans believe that if they can get a strong enough majority in favor it would increase pressure on Russia and China not to use their right to veto the measure. Britain, China, France, Russia and United States are permanent members of the council who can veto any resolution.

Highlighting how negotiations have lasted more than two weeks, France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud said: "In that time 400 people, including women and children, have died, sometimes under torture. Thousands of refugees have fled Syria."

Araud made his comments to a leading newspaper in Brazil, one of the countries the Europeans hope to sway.

"Let us be clear, Security Council inaction is not an option. Everyone must mobilize together and we are counting on Brazil. The Syrian people need the Security Council now."

"It is a fierce, brutal repression for which we cannot remain a silent accomplices," Araud told Estado da Sao Paulo newspaper.

Asked about Brazil's attitude to the European proposition, Araud highlighted how the government has already condemned the violence and called for political moves by Assad.

"We sincerely hope that Brazil's vote will reflect this support given to the democratic aspirations of the Arab people," the ambassador added.

The French envoy said that Brazil's reluctance to back the resolution arose from disagreements over NATO air strikes in Libya. Brazil, India and South Africa say that NATO is going past UN Security Council resolutions in carrying out the strikes against Moamer Kadhafi.

"It is not because we have disagreements on this dossier that we should ignore the massacres which are being carried out in Syria," said Araud.

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Moualem said in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the proposed resolutions against his country "constitute flagrant intervention in the internal affairs of Syria and an attempt to destabilize it."

Moualem called on the Security Council not to "hastily adopt a position that will provide a cloak for the murderous, destructive gangs" which the regime has blamed for the violence.

He said any resolution would "exacerbate the situation and send a message to those extremists and terrorists to the effect that the deliberate destruction that they are wreaking has the support of the Security Council."

Moualem said Syria "has declared its determination both to carry out reforms and to maintain absolute national independence and sovereignty."

earlier related report
Syrian army infighting in restive town: refugees
Guvecci, Turkey (AFP) June 12, 2011 - Infighting has erupted among Syrian soldiers, and the Damascus regime has distributed weapons to the Alawite community in the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shugur, Syrians at the Turkish border said Sunday.

"Right now they are attacking Jisr al-Shugur (nortwest Syria) with tanks, helicopters and artillary," said 27 year-old Ali, who obtained the information from people who fled the city Sunday and arrived at the Turkish border.

The Turkish border is only 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Jisr al-Shugur, which has been under heavy Syrian army attack for days.

"Now there is infighting among the soldiers and one group is trying to protect the civilians. They blew up two bridges in Jisr al-Shugur," he said.

Ali, who met an AFP reporter on his way to the Turkish side of the border, usually used by smugglers, was going to buy food for his family waiting on the other side in Syria.

He said that the last residents of the Syrian villages under assault by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces would soon head to the border.

"Those who stayed begin to leave as the army comes close. If soldiers approach, they will cross into Turkey," he said.

More than 5,000 refugees have arrived in Turkey so far and were settled in camps erected by the Turkish Red Crescent. Thousands more flocked to the border line, hesitating to cross.

"But it is more difficult now to come near the Turkish border. Soldiers and plainclothes police prevent refugees' cars from passing. We must work around secretly," said 24-year-old Mohammed, who was on the same trail used by smugglers.

"Right now the regime arms all Alawite families. They give guns to every man above the age 15," Mohammed said, referring to the Alawite religious group, an offshoot of the Shiite community. The Assad family comes from the Alawite minority.

Mohammed's account was interrupted by a Turkish soldier, tasked with preventing refugees from crossing into Turkey without official permission.

Hostile at first, the soldier later softened his tone and allowed two Syrian kids carrying loaves of bread cross into Syria.

"If there is danger, we will allow everyone in Turkey," the soldier said. "But Assad will never dare to send his army over here. Here is the Turkish army," he said.

For now the Syrian army is totally absent in the border area, he added. "In 14 months I have not seen a single soldier on the other side of the border," he said.

Syrian troops Sunday fought violent battles with "armed gangs" in Jisr Al-Shughur, Syrian state television said.

The army entered the town "after defusing dynamite placed on the bridges and roads by the armed groups," the report said.

Syria's Idlib province, which encompasses Jisr al-Shughur, has long been a hotbed of hostility towards the Assad regime.

Syrian troops have been conducting military operations in the area for days, following what the authorities said was the massacre of 120 policemen by "armed gangs" in the town on Monday.

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