The United Nations Security Council Permanent members from Russia, China, the United States, France and Great Britain are debating a resolution proposed by Great Britain today concerning the protection of Syrian civilians from chemical weapons.

Britain is pushing for a vote on the resolution. The British proposal is most likely the last International diplomatic effort before action is taken for the chemical attacks blamed on the Syrian government last week.

Russia is calling the U.N. resolution premature, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov is saying that Britain should wait until the U.N. inspectors tasked with investigating the incident at the scene in Syria present their findings.

That team has wrapped up its investigation on the ground in Syria on Wednesday, but U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-Moon has stated that the team will need an additional four days to fully complete their probe.

Although the NATO Secretary General in Brussels, Anders Fogh Rasmussen has stated that information from a variety of sources places the blame for the attacks on the Syrian government, Syria Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Maqdad points the finger at Western-backed terrorists saying, “Armed terrorist groups used Sarin gas in all these sites, and we repeat that the terrorist groups are the ones who used them with American, British and French encouragement,” he said. “This encouragement should stop.”

The rapid escalation of the situation in Syria prompted over 6,000 Syrians to flee their country into neighboring Lebanon in the last 24 hours. Neighboring Jordan has also seen an influx of refugees fleeing into their country and are closing entry ports in an effort to stem the flow. Over 2 million Syrians have fled the country since the conflict began two years ago.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry has stated that it has evacuated close to 100 people on Tuesday with more expected to leave on Wednesday as the country continues to destabilize with military intervention looming on the horizon. Russia reports that they have no plans as yet to evacuate the diplomats still in Syria. Tens of thousands of Russians live in Syria.

Israel has called up its reserve troops and Israeli residents have begun to line up at gasmask distribution centers in preparation of possible attacks in Israel. Their actions are prompted by statements made by several senior Iranian officials on Monday that predicted that Israel would be the first victim of an attack on Syria led by the United States.