Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, representing a rare ally on a trip to the Syrian capital other states are shunning, said Russia now wanted to resolve Syria's crisis in line with an Arab plan Moscow and Beijing vetoed in the U.N. Security Council.
The Russian mediation failed to slow a rush by countries that denounced the Russian-Chinese veto three days ago to corner Syria diplomatically and cripple Assad with sanctions in hopes of toppling him and encouraging reforms to avert chaos in a region straddling major fault lines of Middle East conflict.
Opposition activists said government forces renewed shelling of the central city of Homs on Tuesday just before Lavrov's arrival, killing some 19 people in an onslaught that they say has claimed over 300 lives in the last five days.
Syrian state television showed hundreds of people gathering on a main Damascus highway to welcome Lavrov. They were waving Syrian, Russian and Hezbollah flags and held up two Russian flags made out of hundreds of red, white and blue balloons.
.Russia's Lavrov seeks peace in Syria as forces bombard Homs | Reuters
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