Russia said on Wednesday a
"decisive battle" was underway in Syria.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also warned that adopting U.N. Security
Council sanctions on Syria would amount to direct
support for rebels and could draw the country into civil war.
"A decisive battle is underway in Syria," Lavrov told journalists in Moscow.
"It is a dead end policy to support the opposition. Assad will not go on his own
and our Western partners don't know what to do about that."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/18/us-syria-crisis-russia-lavrov-idUSBRE86H0KJ20120718