The Security Council is now divided over whether to even threaten United Nations sanctions against Syria. The council met again Thursday behind closed doors to try to bridge divisions on what would be a first UN resolution condemning the government's six month military crackdown and calling for inclusive political talks. But the Europeans and Russia remained at odds over mentioning the possibility of sanctions against President Bashar Assad's government. The Europeans insist that if Syria doesn't comply with demands, including an immediate halt to violence and respect for human rights, the council should consider sanctions. But Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow is totally opposed to even mentioning the possibility of sanctions. Meanwhile, representatives of Syria's six-month-old protest movement joined opposition parties in Turkey Saturday to forge a united front against Bashar-Alassad's regime after violence claimed at least 19 more lives. Clashes between security forces and deserters killed 11 people in a village in Hama province Friday, while another eight died during a crackdown on protests in flashpoint Homs, human rights activists said. One group, the Local Coordination Committees, put Friday's death toll as high as 23. Thousands of protesters had taken to the streets on the Muslim weekly day of prayer, a lightning rod in the protests against President Assad in which the United Nations says 2,700 people have been killed. The protests were held under the slogan “victory for our Syria and our Yemen.” In Istanbul, meanwhile, the Syrian National Council, a group seeking to unite Assad's opponents, was opening a two-day meeting on Saturday to elect a leadership and thrash out a recruitment policy. Elsewhere on the political front, Syria's ambassador to the United States Imad Mustapha was called in to the State Department and “read the riot act” about an attempted attack on US ambassador Robert Ford.
