Decisive battle on in Syria, says Russia

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also warned that adopting U.N. Security Council sanctions on Syria would amount to direct support for rebels and could draw the country into civil war.A decisive battle is underway in Syria, Lavrov told journalists in Moscow. It is a dead end policy to support the opposition.Assad will not go on his own and our Western partners dont know what to do about that.France on Wednesday denounced Syrian leader Bashar al-Assads struggle to stay in power as futile and raised concerns about mounting violence in the conflict-torn country.The situation in Syria is worsening day by day as the violence intensifies. Bashar al-Assad must understand that his struggle to retain power is futile and that nothing will stop the Syrian peoples march to a democratic future, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.He also called on those still backing Assad to turn against him.The last supporters of the regime must understand that repression leads nowhere and we urge them to dissociate themselves from the bloody repression carried out for 16 months, he said.He said France was more than ever committed to have a resolution adopted at the UN Security Council in order to put an end to the repression and implement a political transition in accordance with the aspirations of the Syrian people.