Bashar Ja'afari, Syria's ambassador to the UN, demanded in a letter that Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General, "shoulder his responsibilities for preventing any aggression on Syria".

He called on the UN Security Council to "maintain its role as a safety valve to prevent the absurd use of force out of the frame of international legitimacy", according to the Syrian state media agency.

The US, meanwhile, must "play its role as a peace sponsor" rather than "a state that uses force against whoever opposes its policies", Mr Ja'afari wrote to Mr Ban and Maria Cristina Perceval, Argentina's ambassador to the UN and the current president of the Security Council.