The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously to support U.N.-Arab League special joint envoy Kofi Annan’s plan for stopping the government crackdown in Syria and ensuring aid to victims. Russia and China, which had previously disputed council proposals on Syria, both joined the vote after the statement’s language was softened. Annan’s plan calls for a Syrian-led political transition to democracy. Acting Security Council president Mark Lyall Grant of Britain read out the council’s statement.

Mark Lyall Grant: “The Security Council expresses its full support for the efforts of the envoy to bring an immediate end to all violence and human rights violations, secure humanitarian access, and facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition.”