UK pushes Syria blame to Russia, China

Grant who was answering a question on Britain’s position on the extremist groups’ activities in Syria did not name Russia and China by name but said the situation is worrying for London as the Security Council has failed to reach a consensus on Syria.

“We are deeply disturbed by the increasing in Syria. We are not surprised by the fact that extremist groups have become active and that the opposition has become armed and is resisting the attacks on it by government forces,” Grant said.

“We had predicted that this would happen, unless the Council took a strong united position as much as six months ago. If we had been able to pass [the resolutions], maybe this escalation of violence could have been acoided,” he added.

His remarks came after the last of the three vetoes by Russia and China of the US-backed resolutions against Syria earlier in July.

Grant also claimed the purpose of the resolutions has been a peaceful transition in Syria while they have focused on removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad under article 7 of the UN Charter that allows foreign military intervention in a country.

implicitly and explicitly mentioned, has been a peaceful transition in Syria.

Grant’s claim that anti-Assad groups are now armed because of the delaying vetoes by Russia and China comes as the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have admitted to arming Syrian rebels and providing them with intelligence assistance.

The UN announced on Wednesday that the Syrian opposition groups are now armed with heavy weapons including tanks in a report that is believed to seriously undermine claims that extremists are feeding the rebels.

Meanwhile, a Dutch journalist who was held captive by anti-Assad armed groups last month said after his release that his captors were not Syrian nationals fighting Assad, as western governments claim.

Jeroen Oerlemans said several people in the 30-to-100-strong Free Syrian Army gang, who arrested him and his colleague, British journalist John Cantlie, had "Birmingham accents."

Separate reports said almost 40 percent of the terror group’s members spoke English while other were from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Chechnya while no Syrians were present.

Revelations earlier this year also showed British and American spy agencies are providing full intelligence support to anti-Assad terror cells while separate disclosures told of Britain running covert operational centers in several locations in Syria and training terrorists.