UNITED NATIONS, May 17: A divided UN Security Council on Wednesday pressed Syria to improve its diplomatic ties with Lebanon and clarify their shared border to help turn the page on decades of Syrian domination of its neighbour.

China and Russia abstained from a 13-0 vote in the 15-member Security Council to implement fully a 2004 measure seeking an end to outside interference in Lebanon.

The 2004 text, Security Council Resolution 1559, called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon, free and fair presidential elections, and the disarming of all militias so the government could extend its control to all of its territory. It has been only partly implemented.

US Ambassador John Bolton welcomed the vote but acknowledged he would have preferred it to be unanimous.

“It makes clear the burden is now on Syria to respond to Lebanon’s request for border delineation and the full exchange of diplomatic relations,” Mr Bolton told reporters.

“It clearly says to Syria it needs to do more to stop the flow of weapons across the Syrian-Lebanese border. And it makes it clear that the further disarming of all militia inside Lebanon is an important priority,” he said.

The resolution ‘strongly encourages’ Syria to respond to Lebanese government requests to clarify their shared border and improve diplomatic relations.

An earlier draft had called on the two countries to establish full diplomatic relations, but the final resolution only said that relations should be improved — an apparent compromise aimed at winning broader support.

Syria’s foreign ministry said the resolution drafted by France, the United States and Britain ‘constitutes uncalled for pressure and provocation that complicates the situation’.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Syria and Lebanon should be left alone to pursue a dialogue.

“We just don’t think it is the right thing for the Security Council to look over their shoulder at every particular juncture and make comments and remarks,” he told reporters.

Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April last year, responding to international outrage and Lebanese protests sparked by the assassination a few months earlier of former Prime Minister Rafik al Hariri.—Reuters