Clashes between regime troops and rebels have continued The UK, the US and Turkey have warned Syrian president Bashar al-Assad that he is running out of time and that the international community was losing patience with his regime\'s failure to end the bloodshed in Syria.
Dozens of countries have met in Istanbul on Sunday to push for tighter sanctions and increased diplomatic pressure to further isolate Assad – and to urge the opposition to offer a democratic alternative to his rule.
However, the Friends of the Syrian People conference has been undermined by the absence of China, Russia and Iran, who disagree with western and Arab allies over how to stop the bloodshed. A peace plan by the UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has so far failed to take hold amid fresh reports of deadly violence, despite Assad\'s vow that he would follow the plan.
The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the Syrian regime should not be allowed to \"manipulate\" the plan to win time, indicating that military options might have to be considered if Damascus does not co-operate with Annan\'s plan and the UN security council fails to unite in opposition to Assad. Russia and China vetoed a UN censure of Assad, fearing the measures could lead to foreign military intervention.
\"If the UN Security Council fails once again to bring about its historic responsibility, there will be no other choice than to support the Syrian people\'s right to self-defence,\" Erdogan said.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, also expressed scepticism that the Syrian government would observe Annan\'s plans, which call for an immediate ceasefire and a Syrian-led negotiation process.
\"Nearly a week has gone by, and we have to conclude that the regime is adding to its long list of broken promises,\" she said. \"The world must judge Assad by what he does, not by what he says. And we cannot sit back and wait any longer.\"
Clinton urged unity behind a plan that includes more sanctions, humanitarian aid, support for the opposition and the promise of justice one day for regime figures involved in atrocities. She said the US is providing communications equipment to help opposition members inSyria organise, remain in contact with the outside world and evade regime attacks.
Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun, who heads the Syrian National Council, called for additional measures, including the strengthening of Syrian rebel forces as well as \"security corridors\" inside Syria, an apparent reference to the foreign military intervention that the nations meeting in Istanbul have so far been reluctant to support.
\"No one should allow this regime to feel at ease or to feel stronger by giving them a longer manoeuvring area,\" he said. \"It\'s enough that the international community has flirted with the regime in Syria. Something has to change.\"
Damascus blasted the conference on Syria\'s spreading crisis before it even started, calling it part of an international conspiracy to kill Syrians and weaken the country.
A front-page editorial in the official Al-Baath newspaper called the conference a \"regional and international scramble to search for ways to kill more Syrians, sabotage their society and state and move toward the broad objective of weakening Syria.\"
Damascus has consistently dismissed the country\'s yearlong uprising as a foreign-engineered conspiracy.
Iran, a close Syrian ally, was not invited to the conference.
Syria\'s uprising began in March 2011 with peaceful protests calling for political reforms. Dissent spread as Assad\'s forces deployed tanks, snipers and thugs to try to quash it, and many in the opposition have taken up arms to defend themselves and attack government troops.
The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed.
Syria has said it agrees to the plan but has dismissed what it actually requires Damascus to do.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi has said the government would not withdraw its force from towns and cities engulfed by unrest before life returns to normal there.
Leaders of Syria\'s scattered opposition have also rejected dialogue with the regime, accusing it of stalling for time and saying it has killed too many people to be considered serious about peace.