UN Security Council to vote on Syria

Members of the United Nations Security Council have failed to reach agreement on a draft resolution that would authorise a UN observer mission to Syria, with Russia registering objections to its contents.

After failing to come to an agreement on the resolution during lengthy debates on Friday, members of the council were expected to vote on a revised resolution on Saturday.

However, it is not clear whether Russia - which has vetoed two previous resolutions - will back the text.

The United States called for the vote at 15:00 GMT on Saturday, but Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said he was not "completely satisfied", describing negotiations as "rather difficult".

Russia and China have twice used their veto rights as permanent members to block a tougher stance by the council against the Syrian government, but both countries have expressed support for a peace plan devised by Kofi Annan, the joint UN-Arab League on Syria. 

The two countries had earlier submitted alternative draft resolutions for the vote by the 15-member body on the proposed deployment of 30 observers to Syria to monitor a ceasefire implemented as part of a UN-Arab League peace plan.

The United States-proposed resolution, backed by Britain, France, Germany, and others, registered a draft resolution that demanded "full, unimpeded, and immediate freedom of movement" for an observer mission.

It warned of "further measures" if Assad's government did not "implement visibly" the commitments made under Annan's peace plan.

Envoy Kofi Annan has called for a team to be deployed immediately to ensure compliance with his peace plan.

Several deaths were reported on Friday despite the ceasefire, as thousands of protesters took to the streets across the country in fresh revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

Annan's plan aims to end over a year of violence in Syria which has killed over 9,000 people, mostly civilians.

Ahmed Fawzi, a spokesman for Annan, said on Friday that the team of observers was "standing by", and that a ceasefire put in place under the plan was largely holding.

Protests in the wake of that ceasefire broke out across the country, although activists said several protesters had been killed when government forces fired their guns in the air.

The continued presence of government troops and armoured vehicles in cities and other civilian areas, a violation of one of the six key points in Annan's peace plan, was extremely concerning, Fawzi said, but more important was a halt to the killing.

Demonstrations began across the country on Friday afternoon as Syrian forces tightened security in public squares and outside mosques.

At least one protester was killed when a demonstration tried to reach central Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organisation, said. Other activists said two people had been shot dead at an army checkpoint.