SNC Says U.N. Statement 'Doesn't Respond to Needs' of Syrians

A U.N. Security Council peace call for Syria has "merit" but "does not respond to the real needs of the Syrian people", the head of main opposition group the Syrian National Council said Thursday.

"The Syrian National Council supports any measure intended to stop the daily slaughter that the Syrian people have lived with for months," SNC president Burhan Ghalioun told Agence France Presse in Paris.

"This statement has the merit of representing the common position of the international community against the policies of Bashar al-Assad. "But it obviously does not meet the real needs of the Syrian people."

Monitors say more than 9,100 people have been killed in year-long unrest that started with peaceful protests and turned into an armed revolt, faced with a brutal crackdown costing dozens of lives each day.

The U.N. Security Council adopted a statement on Thursday urging President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition to implement "fully and immediately" international envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.

Annan's plan calls for Assad to pull troops and heavy weapons out of protest cities, a daily two-hour humanitarian pause to hostilities, access to all areas affected by the fighting and a U.N.-supervised halt to all clashes.

The SNC president said the Syrian people expect measures that match the extent of the tragedy they face in their daily lives.

"This is another step as part of a broader process of growing reaction against the Assad regime," said Ghalioun. "But it does not match the level of the tragedy. Stronger declarations and resolutions are necessary."

After intense negotiations between major U.N. powers, Russia and China signed up to the Western-drafted text which calls on Assad to work toward a cessation of hostilities and a democratic transition.

Russia and China have vetoed two Security Council resolutions on Syria, arguing they were unbalanced and aimed at regime change.

The Security Council awaited a formal response from Syria.