Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that dialogue on Syria was "futile", the official SPA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Russia should have "coordinated with the Arabs... before using the veto" to block a resolution on Syria in the U.N. Security Council, King Abdullah was quoted as saying.

Russia on Wednesday warned against the use of force to solve the crisis over the Iranian nuclear program, saying an attack would have catastrophic consequences both for the region and global diplomacy.

"The scenario of military action against Iran would be catastrophic for the region and possibly the whole system of international relations," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told a news conference.

Russia on Wednesday said it could not rule out that the United States would use the U.S. Manas airbase in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan for an eventual strike on Iran over its contested nuclear program.

"It cannot be excluded that this site could be used in a potential conflict with Iran," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters. "We hope that such an apocalyptic scenario will not be realized."

Russia on Wednesday expressed "serious concern" about the humanitarian situation in Syria and said it backed an International Committee of the Red Cross call for a daily two-hour truce that could provide help to civilians.

"We are seriously concerned by incoming reports about the difficult humanitarian situation in Syria," said Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

China on Tuesday refused to commit to attend an international conference in Tunis this week after Russia said it would boycott the meeting aimed at seeking political change in Syria.

The Friends of Syria group will meet for the first time on Friday after being created in response to a joint veto by China and Russia of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning a bloody crackdown on protests in Syria.

Russia on Tuesday said it will not attend an international conference in Tunis this week aimed at seeking political change in Syria because the meeting only supported the opposition's cause.

The meeting was called "for the purpose of supporting one side against another in an internal conflict," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "We cannot accept the offer to attend this meeting."

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat warned on Monday against attempts to create division among Syria and Lebanon’s Druze population regarding the former’s anti-regime demonstrations.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Internal division has also taken place within the Lebanese government” where some sides support the Syrian regime and others back the protests.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin vowed Monday that Russia would strengthen its military might and offer an "asymmetrical and effective" response to the deployment of a NATO missile shield.

"We must not tempt anyone with our weakness," Putin wrote in a fiercely worded article on national security in the state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, ahead of his bid for a third Kremlin term in March 4 presidential polls.

Hundreds of Moscow drivers flying white balloons and ribbons circled the Kremlin on Sunday in noisy protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's likely return as president in March 4 polls.

The second such auto rally in three weeks was due to be picked up in other cities as the opposition sought to keep up momentum after launching the biggest wave of anti-Putin rallies in his 12-year rule in December.

Russian troops suffered 17 dead and 24 wounded in a days-long battle with insurgents in the restive North Caucasus region, Chechnya's Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said Saturday.

A previous toll on Friday was 13 killed in the deadliest unrest in months.