At the United Nations, Russia and China have vetoed a U.S.- and European-backed Security Council resolution condemning Syria’s ongoing crackdown on opposition protesters. The rare double-veto follows months of negotiations on a measure that would hold the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable for violence that has left an estimated 3,000 people dead. The vetoed draft had called on Syria to “cease the use of force against civilians,” release political prisoners and grant other “fundamental freedoms.” The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, condemned the veto.

Susan Rice: “The United States is outraged that this council has utterly failed to address an urgent moral challenge and a growing threat to regional peace and security. Several members have sought for weeks to weaken and strip bare any text that would have defended the lives of innocent civilians from Assad’s brutality. Today two members have vetoed a vastly watered-down text that doesn’t even mention sanctions.”