Britain will step up its support for Syria's rebels after Russia and China blocked a UN Security Council resolution against Bashar al-Assad's regime, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on  Friday.

Hague said Russia in particular would regret its actions, which he said would be harmful to its long-term goals in the region. "We will all be doing more outside the Security Council and intensify our work to support the Syrian opposition, to give humanitarian aid outside the work of the Security Council," Hague told BBC Radio.

"There are several things we can do: first of all to give more practical support to the Syrian opposition. We do not give lethal support," he said. "We've already doubled the humanitarian aid. ... The flow of refugees is rising, so we'll do our utmost to help those people," Hague said.

[Source: Reuters]