Nightly News   |  February 04, 2012

UN resolution to stop Syrian violence fails

The U.N. Security Council fails to agree on a resolution condemning Syrian President Bashar Assad following the reported deaths of over 200 people. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports.

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>>> we want to bring in the chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell . a contentious showdown at the u.n. where do things stand right now?

>> reporter: this was a terrible day for the united nations and diplomacy. the u.n. resolution had been watered down to try to get russiaen oboard, but russia said it would still vote no and bring china along with it. and because of the unprecedented will evils of the attack, the violence by the regime by the opposition, the u.s., europe and the arab league all decided to call russia 's bluff. this was unprecedented. and force a vote anyway. afterward, u.s. ambassadors susan rice said that the united states was quote, disgusted by russia 's veto.

>> for months, this council has been held hostage by a couple members. these members stand behind empty arguments and individual interests. this intransigence is even more shameful when you consider that at least one of these members continues to deliver weapons to assad.

>> reporter: earlier in the day in munich, secretary of state hillary clinton had a tough meeting with her russian counterpart, who said that the resolution would have amounted to taking sides in a civil war . but the fear now is that the u.n.'s failure to react will encourage assad to be more brutal. there's no plans for the u.s. to go it alone, to intervene on its own. not without the stamp of approval from the united nations .

>> andrea mitchell , thanks.

>>> another flash point in the middle east -- iran, which