Basic Draw

British sources say the leaders of France, Turkey, Canada and the UK gave strong backing to President Obamas call for military action. The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said the Turks put a "very strong argument about how the world must respond to the use of chemical weapons".

But correspondents in St Petersburg say opponents of US military intervention appear to far outnumber supporters within the G20.

And the BBCs Bridget Kendall says the views of the G20 leaders on any US action could be the least of Mr Obamas worries, as his real difficulties might lie back in the US.

Divisions confirmed

Italian PM Enrico Letta said the splits were confirmed during a working dinner in St Petersburg on Thursday.

A spokesman for the Russian presidency said a US strike on Syria would "drive another nail into the coffin of international law".

Ms Power told a news conference in New York: "Even in the wake of the flagrant shattering of the international norm against chemical weapons use, Russia continues to hold the council hostage and shirk its international responsibilities.

"What we have learned, what the Syrian people have learned, is that the Security Council the world needs to deal with this crisis is not the Security Council we have."

US President Barack Obama is thought to be trying at the G20 summit to build an international coalition to back strikes against military targets in Syria.

President Obama was nearly an hour late for Thursdays G20 dinner. His aides said he had been trying to find time during the summit to call US members of Congress, who are due to vote next week on whether to back Mr Obamas call for a military strike.

Mr Obama also cancelled a trip to California on Monday in order to lobby Congress, as a poll commissioned by the BBC and ABC News suggested more than one-third of Congress members were undecided whether or not to back military action.

A majority of those who had made a decision said they would vote against the president.

Syrias parliamentary speaker has written to the speaker of the House of Representatives urging members not to rush into an "irresponsible, reckless action".