The United Nations security council has refused to approve a statement condemning the dictatorship for attacking its own people in Syria.

Hisham Youseff, spokesman for the Arab League, said the organisation was "taking the side of the people" who had the right to demonstrate peacefully.

"Government has to respond positively to the demands of the people," he told John Humphrys.

"The more governments wait, the higher the demands."

Former British foreign secretary Jack Straw said predicted "a gradual and continued erosion in the authority of the Assad regime" would take place in the country.

The people of Syria "have had enough" he said, and the country was "on the way to a far better future".

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