The UN Security Council meets today to formally end the UN observer mission in Syria amid entrenched divisions between the major powers over the conflict-stricken country.
Russia and China hit out at western nations over Syria ahead of the meeting, which also comes as UN leader Ban Ki-moon struggles to persuade Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi to become the new international envoy on the conflict.
The mandate of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) ends at midnight on Sunday and the split between the powers means there is no hope of agreeing a renewal, diplomats said.
The best that can be hoped for is that the 15-member council agrees to keep a political liaison office in Damascus to support the efforts of whoever takes over from Kofi Annan as the UN-Arab League envoy on Syria, diplomats said.
The original 300 unarmed observers have already been cut back to 110 because of the intensified violence, which forced them to suspend patrols in mid-June. More are expected to leave before the deadline.
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"The Security Council is so polarized that I don't expect any decision in political terms," said France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud, the council president for August.
The United States, Britain and France have condemned Russia and China for vetoing three council resolutions that criticized President Bashar al-Assad and would have threatened sanctions over the conflict which has now lasted 17 months.
They say it is too dangerous for the UN observers to stay.
Russia, Syria's key political backer, and China in turn accuse the western nations of only agitating for the removal of Assad.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday accused Western states of fomenting violence by openly supporting the armed opposition. He called for backing for an agreement made by the international powers in Geneva on June 30 that there should be a political transition in Syria.
"What was accomplished in Geneva should not be sabotaged," Lavrov told reporters in Belarus.
"Some Western countries have never given up the goal of 'regime change' in Syria and constantly reinforced their support for the anti-government forces," said a commentary in the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: "There's no question that we are endeavoring, through our support to the opposition, to hasten the day when the violence ends, when Assad leaves power and when a democratic transition can begin."