Updated at 7:40 a.m. ET: The Obama administration calls Saturday for stepped up U.S.-European cooperation to isolate tyrannies like the Assad regime in Syria and promote democracy in the Arab World, The AP reports.
"As a tyrant in Damascus brutalizes his own people, America and Europe stand shoulder to shoulder," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says, referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"We are united, alongside the Arab League, in demanding an end to the bloodshed and a democratic future for Syria. And we are hopeful that at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in New York, the Security Council will express the will of the international community," she says.
"Wherever tyrants deny the legitimate demands of their own people, we need to work together to send them a clear message: You cannot hold back the future at the point of a gun," Clinton adds.
Updated at 3:55 a.m. ET: Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warns Washington that any attempt to put a draft resolution on Syria to a vote at the United Nations would lead to a "scandal," The Associated Press reports. He says Russia hopes "bias will not prevail over common sense."
Updated at 2:55 a.m. ET: NBC News reports a crowd of Syrian Americans has gathered outside the Syrian Embassy in Washington, D.C., calling for President Bashar al-Assad to stand down. "One, two, three, four, no dictator anymore, five, six, seven, eight, stop the killing, stop the hate," they chant.
Original post: The U.N. Security Council plans to vote on a intensely negotiated resolution backing an Arab peace plan for Syria on Saturday, a day after government forces reportedly killed more than 200 people in a barrage of mortar shells in Homs.
As reports of the Homs attack spread, protesters around the world marched on Syrian diplomatic outposts.
A U.N. diplomat revealed the Security Council agenda Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by the media.
The move toward a vote came after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an effort to overcome Russian opposition to any statement that explicitly calls for regime change or a military intervention in Syria.
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The U.S. and its partners have ruled out military action but want the global body to endorse an Arab League plan that calls on President Bashar al-Assad to hand power over to Syria's vice president.
Russia's deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, said Friday that Moscow could not support the resolution in its current form. But he expressed optimism that an agreement could be reached, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.
"UN Security Council is set to meet 9:00 a.m. (EST) Saturday," Britain's U.N. mission announced on Twitter on Friday. "Plan is to vote on Syria resolution." Other missions confirmed the announcement but reports of the meeting time.
Estimated 5,400 deaths
Assad's regime has been intensifying an assault against army defectors and protesters. The U.N. said weeks ago that more than 5,400 people have been killed in violence since March. Hundreds more have been killed since that tally was announced.
Syrian activists Friday said an evening assault by government forces in the central city of Homs killed 200 people and wounded hundreds.
Video: Syrians say: ?We need intervention!? (on this page)Two main opposition groups, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, said the death toll in Homs was more than 200 people in shelling that began late Friday. More than half of the killings ? about 140 ? were reported in the Khaldiyeh neighborhood.
"This is the worst attack of the uprising, since the uprising began in March until now," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the Observatory, which tracks violence through contacts on the ground.
The reports could not be independently confirmed.
The Syrian government denied it bombarded Homs and blamed the deaths on unspecified gunmen, Sky News reported.
Video: Clinton: 'Syria belongs to its citizens' (on this page)Early Saturday, an Al Arabiya news correspondent said the Homs death toll rose to 337. The Syrian Media Center reported a huge explosion took place in Hama close to the border entrance of Halab, Al Arabiya said.
It was not immediately clear what precipitated the Homs attack, but there have been reports that army defectors set up checkpoints in the area and were trying to consolidate control.
Earlier on Friday, deadly clashes erupted between government troops and rebels in suburbs of the Syrian capital and villages in the south, sparking fighting that killed at least 23 people, including nine soldiers, activists said.
Assad is trying to crush the revolt with a sweeping crackdown that has so far claimed thousands of lives, but neither the government nor the protesters are backing down and clashes between the military and an increasingly bold and armed opposition has meant many parts of the country have seen relentless violence.
Embassies stormed
Protesters stormed Syrian embassies in Berlin, Cairo and London late Friday.
In Berlin, about 30 people broke in and destroyed a portrait of Assad and trashed the embassy building, Die Welt said.
The BBC reported about 150 people stormed the embassy in London, and five people who gained entry were arrested. Embassy windows were reportedly smashed and demonstrators say police "kettled" people and prevented them from leaving.
Anass Toma, a Syrian MBA student, told the BBC he attended the Belgrave Square protest over the "massacre" in Homs.
"People are angry. I'm worried about the situation back home. I've been in London two years but I'm Syrian, from Aleppo," he said.
In Kuwait, demonstrators stormed into the Syrian Embassy compound on Saturday, breaking windows and hoisting the flag of the opposition, witnesses there said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
They said there were no serious injuries at the embassy, where protesters ripped down the Syrian flag. Police later cleared the area and blocked roads.
Protests were also reported in Athens, Greece; Istanbul, Turkey; and Madrid, Spain.
Saturday protests were announced for Sidney, Australia; Montreal, Canada; and New York.
The Associated Press, Reuters, NBC News and msnbc.com staff contributed to this story.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46259594/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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