BBC News with Fiona MacDonald

The Syrian government has continued major assaults against opposition strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus and other cities like Homs and Hama with at least 40 people reported to have been killed today. Meanwhile, the White House said discussions were continuing with Russia since Moscow still says it will veto any United Nations Security Council resolution calling on President Assad to step down. From Washington, Paul Adams.

Hillary Clinton said the UN Security Council must make it clear to the Syrian government that the world regards its actions as a threat to peace and security. The international community, she said, should send a clear message to the Syrian people: "We stand with you." At the White House, meanwhile, the president's spokesman Jay Carney said Bashar al-Assad's fall was inevitable and governments needed to bear this in mindwhen deciding where they stood. He didn't point the finger directly at Moscow, but he said that those who prop up what he called a brutal regimewould find themselves in a small minority.