Last time the UN Security Council (UNSC) demanded the attention of major capitals, world media and Arab Spring watchers on the scale witnessed Tuesday was nearly 11 months ago, when the 15-nation body expedited a crippling round of sanctions against Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, followed shortly thereafter by the authorization of military intervention in the North African country.
This week, another Arab Spring uprising that has morphed into a bloody conflict was the focus of debate, but neither sanctions nor military intervention were on the table. Indeed, Council members remain split over how to stem the 11-month long Syrian struggle which has killed more than 5,400 civilians by the UN's count and 2,000 Syrian soldiers, according to Damascus.
To throw weight behind one of the camps, which on Friday introduced a draft resolution backing an Arab League peace deal (PDF), U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her counterparts from the UK and France flew to New York.
The convergence of Foreign Ministers from three of the Security Council's five permanent member countries was designed to isolate Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin and Chinese envoy Li Baodong, who together double vetoed a resolution on the Syrian government in October.
In contrast to that Western-sponsored draft, which condemned Syria's crackdown on protesters and threatened sanctions should the violence continue, Tuesday's text was introduced by an Arab member of the Council - Morocco - and seeks to implement the Arab roadmap for peace, which calls on both sides to the civil war to adhere to an immediate ceasefire, allow unhindered access to outside observers and agree to a devolution of power at the top.
Not unexpectedly, Syria rejected the League's Jan. 22 peace plan, which emerged from a three week monitoring mission.
Days later, amid a marked spike in violence, growing defection from its 21 members and widespread criticism from civil society and other international actors, the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission and requested a briefing before the Security Council.
