Foreign Minister Lavrov meets UN envoy Kofi Annan in Moscow, July 16, 2012. — Reuters picMOSCOW, July 18 — Russia said today a “decisive battle” was under way in Syria.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also warned that adopting UN Security Council sanctions on Syria would amount to direct support for rebels and could draw the country into civil war.

“A decisive battle is under way in Syria,” Lavrov told journalists in Moscow. “It is a dead-end policy to support the opposition. Assad will not go on his own and our Western partners don’t know what to do about that.” — Reuters