(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />Hundreds of flag-waving supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lined the streets of Damascus to welcome Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday.<br/> <br />Lavrov and Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov are in Damascus to meet Assad three days after a Russian-Chinese veto of an Arab-backed U.N. resolution on Syria caused world-wide outrage.<br/> <br />Moscow and Beijing were the only members of the 15-member U.N. Security Council to vote against the resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to yield power and start a political transition. The double veto prompted unusually undiplomatic Western criticism.<br/> <br />Lavrov has defended the veto, saying it prevented the Security Council from taking sides in a civil war. He said Russia was pressing Assad's government to implement reforms more swiftly.
