UNITED NATIONS/AMMAN--Arab and Western states urged the U.N. Security Council to act swiftly on a resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside as his forces reasserted control of Damascus suburbs on Tuesday after beating back rebels at the gates of the capital.

The comments appeared designed to confront Russia over its reluctance to support the resolution and condemn Assad's government for its violent suppression of the protests. Moscow's U.N. envoy, however, said consensus was necessary and possible.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby asked the council for "rapid and decisive action" on a resolution to endorse the league's demand that Assad delegate powers to his deputy and defuse the 10-month uprising against his family's dynastic rule. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim warned the 15-nation body that Syria's "killing machine is still at work."

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari hit back, telling the council Arab League leaders had put a negative spin on a report by the League's monitors in Syria. He sparred verbally with Sheikh Hamad, whose country has harshly criticized Syria and last year backed Western action in Libya that helped rebels take power. "Is Qatar a member of NATO or the Arab League?" Ja'afari asked with heavy sarcasm.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly backed the Arab League call for rapid Security Council action and warned that the violence was pushing Syria to the brink of civil war. "We all have a choice: stand with the people of Syria and the region or become complicit in the continuing violence there," she told the council, adding that the violence was "increasingly likely to spiral out of control."

At the same time, Arab and Western nations attempted to allay Russian fears by making clear they were trying to avoid a Libyan-style foreign role in the Syrian crisis.

"We are not calling for a military intervention," Sheikh Hamad said. "We are advocating the exertion of concrete economic pressure so that the Syrian regime might realize that it is imperative to meet the demands of its people."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the council the resolution "does not call for military action and could not be used to authorize it." French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe described the idea of such intervention as a myth.

The fate of the resolution depends on whether Russia, one of Assad's few remaining allies, can be persuaded not to veto the European-Arab draft resolution as Moscow and Beijing did to a European text in October that would have condemned Damascus and threatened it with sanctions. Russian U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin criticized the Arab League plan but said the inclusion of some of Russia's ideas in the draft resolution was a positive sign.

"We found some of the elements of our text in it, and this gives rise for hope," Churkin said, referring to an earlier Russian draft resolution on Syria that had been rejected by Western powers and the Arab League as too weak. "We hope that the council will come to consensus on the Syrian issue, as is not only possible but also necessary."

Diplomats have been haggling for days to find a text Moscow will not block, with a main sticking point being the degree to which it expresses support for the Arab plan for Assad to give up powers, U.N. diplomats said.