Arab nations have dropped an explicit demand for President Bashar al-Assad to quit from a resolution on the Syria conflict to be voted at the UN General Assembly

Arab nations have dropped an explicit demand for President Bashar al-Assad to quit from a resolution on the Syria conflict to be voted at the UN General Assembly on Friday.
  
With the international community reeling from the resignation of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, the Arab League and their western supporters are confident the resolution will be passed in the 193-member assembly. But they have toned it down in a bid to get as big a majority as possible.
  
Faced with opposition from some Arab and Latin American countries, the resolution, drawn up by Saudi Arabia, has been stripped of the demand for Assad to stand down and for the wider application of sanctions ordered by the Arab League.
  
Russia and China, which have vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions that could have led to sanctions against Assad's government, are expected to vote against the text.

The draft resolution condemns the Syrian government's alleged use of "heavy weapons" and its failure to withdraw troops and artillery from towns in line with the Annan peace plan.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has already offered his "strong" support to the Arab moves at the United Nations.
  
France's UN ambassador, Gerard Araud, Security Council president for August, said the resolution would show that Russia and China are a "tiny minority" at the UN General Assembly.
  
The draft text deplores "Security Council failure to agree on measures on Syria and the growing use of tanks, helicopters and other heavy weapons by the Syrian authorities." It calls for the establishment of a "consensus transitional governing body" in Syria, which hints at the need for Assad to stand down, and for free elections.