Foreign ministers from the US, France and the UK have gone to the United Nations in New York to back Arab League appeals for Security Council backing for its peace plan for Syria.
A meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday will hear an appeal from the Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi for the council to back its plan, which calls on President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to a deputy who would then form a government of national unity.
The BBC reports that the Western Foreign Ministers have gone to the UN to prepare the ground for the meeting, stressing the worsening violence in Syria and urging the Security Council to act.
However, Russia says it cannot accept the plan, saying it is not balanced and would leave open the possibility of intervention in Syria's affairs.
