The Western countries, in particular France and Britain, cannot escape their responsibility for an impasse which leaves the world unable to deal with the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Syria, said a leading Indian newspaper on Monday.

Commenting on the UN Security Council vote on Syria on Saturday, The Hindu daily said in an editorial that the West has only itself to blame for alienating what could have been powerful and influential allies -- China and Russia -- in this terrible and protracted crisis in Syria.

"Russia's unwillingness to go along with a US-led process stems, in large measure, from its anger at western conduct over Libya," said the paper. "The UN resolution in March 2011 (on Libya) imposed only a no-fly zone but served, in reality, as a cover for NATO's aim of violent regime change there."

The newspaper said that Washington's approach, which has included strident calls for President Bashar al-Assad to go, does not open a path for an urgent political solution to the violence in Syria.

"One of the problems is that the opposition to the regime is severely fragmented. Furthermore, with the regime in Damascus drawn from the 10 percent Alawite Shia (Shi'ite) minority, Sunni extremist groups have jumped into the fray," said the newspaper.

It called on UN Security Council, the Arab League, and India- Brazil-South Africa group to "go back to the drawing board and come up with a new plan of action that can end the violence and set the stage for a Syrian-led political solution".