In coordinated moves, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain called yesterday on the Syrian envoys in their capitals to condemn the crackdown that has led to hundreds of deaths. U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague also withdrew the Syrian ambassador’s invitation to tomorrow’s wedding of Prince William in London.

In New York, China and Russia yesterday led opposition that blocked an initiative by the U.S. and its European allies for the UN Security Council to condemn the Syrian government’s attacks on peaceful protesters.

The situation “does not present a threat to international peace and security,” Russian Deputy Ambassador Alexander Pankin said, referring to the standard for Security Council involvement.

The latest Syrian crackdown on unrest in the past week, mostly in the southern region of Daraa, has brought the nationwide death toll since mid-March to more than 450, Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria’s National Organization for Human Rights, said by phone yesterday. The protests are part of a wave of popular movements that have unseated rulers in Egypt and Tunisia, sparked violent reactions in Libya and Bahrain and helped push oil prices up more than 20 percent this year.

‘Legitimate Aspirations’

Britain told Syrian Ambassador Sami Khiyami of its “condemnation of the unacceptable use of force against protesters,” the Foreign Office said in a statement yesterday. France said it told Ambassador Lamia Chakkour that “the Syrian authorities must respond to their people’s legitimate aspirations by reforms, not force.”

Khiyami’s invitation to attend the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton has been withdrawn, the Foreign Office announced today. Invitations to such events are routinely issued to the envoys of all countries with which Britain has normal diplomatic relations.

“In the light of this week’s attacks against civilians by the Syrian security forces, which we have condemned, the foreign secretary has decided that the presence of the Syrian ambassador at the royal wedding would be unacceptable and that he should not attend,” the Foreign Office said in an e-mailed statement. “Buckingham Palace shares the view of the Foreign Office that it is not considered appropriate for the Syrian ambassador to attend the wedding.”

‘At a Crossroads’

Syria is “at a crossroads” and can still reform peacefully if the government stops using violence, U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox said in Parliament yesterday. “We must redouble international pressure in every way we can to say there is an alternative road.”

European Union members will meet tomorrow at ambassador level in Brussels to discuss Syria. Germany favors sanctions on Syria’s leadership, including travel restrictions and financial freezes, the German government’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters in Berlin yesterday.

Syrian authorities have detained activist Rassem al-Atassi in Homs, saying the former head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights armed two men with guns and gave them money, the group’s current chief, Mahmoud Merhi, said today.

‘Pure Fabrication’

“This is pure fabrication,” Merhi said, adding that rallies will take place tomorrow as they have every Friday since mid-March, when the unrest began. “Not demonstrating will be an end to the process of change in Syria. The residents of Daraa will hold protests even if the military uses live ammunition.”

More than 200 members of the ruling Baath party across Syria quit late yesterday to protest the practices of security forces in the country, Agence France-Presse and Al-Arabiya television reported. Qurabi said the resignations were unlikely to sway the government and that the army remains loyal. The Baath party has as many as 2.5 million members, according to Merhi.

President Bashar al-Assad’s government sent tanks and armored personnel carriers to storm Daraa on April 25. Activists and witnesses say at least 25 people were killed as security forces fired on protesters. Troops strafed the streets with machine guns and water, electricity and phone lines were cut.

Tanks Deployed

The government said its soldiers moved into the city in response to an appeal by residents to prevent violence by “radical terrorists.” Assad has said foreign-led conspirators are seeking to exploit legitimate expressions of popular demands. Protest organizers say the demonstrators were unarmed.

About 30 tanks are on the way to the coastal city of Banias, where protests have occurred this week, Qurabi said. The army has surrounded the city in the past few days and there is “fear of an attack,” he said, adding that some tanks are also positioned on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

There were no reports of further fighting yesterday in Daraa, the site of violent clashes the day before, Qurabi said. About 40 army tanks are positioned in the city, he said.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested across the country since the most recent demonstrations began on April 22, bringing the total number of detentions since the unrest started to at least 2,000, according to Merhi.

Diplomatic Observers

Syria is preventing diplomatic observers from assessing the situation, including through measures such as the detention of accredited diplomatic personnel, the U.S. Embassy in Damascus said in an e-mail yesterday. One person working for the embassy was briefly held, it said.

The U.S. is considering “targeted sanctions,” said Jake Sullivan, director of policy planning at the State Department, which has ordered all embassy family members and non-emergency personnel to depart Syria and advised U.S. citizens to leave.

At the UN, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the Obama administration “condemns in the strongest possible terms the abhorrent violence used by the government of Syria.”

“My government calls on President Assad to change course now and heed the calls of his own people,” she said. “We also call upon the international community to respond to this brutal crackdown, and to hold accountable those who are perpetrating these gross human rights violations.”

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