Obama slams Syria on massacre, as U.N. Security Council mulls vote NEW: Security Council meeting delayed amid Russian concerns over draft resolution President Obama blasts Syrian government for "relentless brutality" against its people Tunisia expels the Syrian ambassador, withdraws diplomatic recognition of Damascus Syrian opposition council: 260 people die after the regime commits a "horrific" massacre in Homs (CNN) -- As international anger grows over reports of mass carnage at the hands of the Syrian regime, President Barack Obama urged the U.N. Security Council to pass a draft resolution Saturday aimed at reining in the bloody crackdown. In a strongly worded statement, Obama said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had lost all legitimacy, and that the international community "must work to protect the Syrian people from this abhorrent brutality." Government forces "committed one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria," killing at least 260 civilians over the past day, the opposition Syrian National Council said Saturday. "During the attack, residential buildings and homes were randomly and heavily bombed," the group said. Some Syrian residents say the international community is sitting idle as bodies mount in the streets. The Arab League isn't doing anything about it. ... Homs resident Abu Abdo Alhomsy described continuous bombing and snipers perched throughout the city. Please, we call (on) the international community for help. The Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian opposition group, reported 24 more deaths elsewhere in Syria Saturday, most of them killed while taking part in the funeral of a slain protester in Darya, outside Damascus. U.N. Security Council members have gathered in New York and are thought likely to vote on the draft resolution later. But delays were reported as Russian concerns led to another closed-door huddle between the five permanent members of the Security Council before the full meeting began. Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council and a trade partner with Syria, has hinted it is not satisfied with the latest draft resolution and is seeking to introduce late amendments to the text. As head of another of the permanent members, the U.S. president's stern words may carry extra weight. Obama said the Syrian government was guilty of murdering hundreds of Syrian people, including women and children. Read Obama's full statement "Every government has the responsibility to protect its citizens, and any government that brutalizes and massacres its people does not deserve to govern," he said. Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now. He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately. Worse, Obama said, the violence in Homs came as the Syrian people were celebrating the birth of the Prophet Mohammed and marking 30 years since Al-Assad's father oversaw a massacre in the city of Hama. Earlier, Tunisia said it would expel the Syrian ambassador from Tunis in response to the killings in Homs, while British Foreign Secretary William Hague and his French counterpart Alain Juppe condemned the violence. A Syrian girl gestures during a protest in the flashpoint city of Homs on Friday. Far from stopping their policy of repression, Syrian authorities have taken a step further into savagery. The massacre of Homs is a crime against humanity; its perpetrators will be held accountable," Juppe said in a statement, as he urged the U.N. Security Council to act. "The international community must recognize and support the right of the Syrian people to freedom, security, and choice of its political future," he said. Those that would impede the adoption of such a resolution would take a heavy responsibility before history. Hague said he was horrified by the reports from Homs and condemned "unequivocally the use of tanks, mortars and artillery in civilian areas." Criticizing what he described as Al-Assad's "cold-blooded cynicism in the face of mounting international pressure," he urged the U.N. Security Council to pass the resolution. "The time is long past for the international community, particularly those that have so far sheltered the Assad regime, to intensify the pressure to end over 10 months of violence," he said in a statement. Tunisia will expel the Syrian ambassador from Tunis and withdraw diplomatic recognition of the government in Damascus in response to the events in Homs, the official spokesman for President Moncef Marzouki said Saturday in a statement carried by the Tunisian state-run news agency. For its part, Syrian state-run TV denied reports that the army shelled neighborhoods in Homs. Despite the latest violence, efforts to pass a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria could drag on. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Russian TV that a "scandal" could arise on the U.N. Security Council if the draft resolution goes for a vote on Saturday, Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Russia has opposed previous draft resolutions on Syria. Addressing the Munich Security Conference in Germany Saturday, Lavrov said work remained to be done on the text, according to the Russian state news agency ITAR-Tass. "We must eliminate all the duplicities in the text," he is quoted by the agency as saying. The internal Syrian dialogue should be conducted without any preconditions. Lavrov said he and Foreign Intelligence Service head Mikhail Fradkov will visit Syria on Tuesday, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. The latest Security Council draft had dropped demands from an Arab League plan for Syria to form a unity government and for President Bashar al-Assad to delegate power to his deputy. U.N. diplomats said the changes reflected a big concession to Russia, which has been reluctant to sign on to any plan that could be seen as a mandate for regime change in Damascus. And, you know, Russia does not want to be against the people," Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said. The Syrian National Council said it hopes Syria can "democratically elect a regime that ensures freedom and dignity for all Syrians." It called for Russia to change its stance, condemn the Syrian regime and hold it accountable for mass killings. CNN cannot independently confirm opposition or government reports from Syria because the regime has restricted journalists' access to the country. But news of the violence in Homs led to protests breaking out at Syrian embassies in Cairo, Berlin, Washington, Kuwait and London Friday and Saturday. At least 7,100 people, including 461 children, have died since the start of the Syrian uprising in March, according to the Local Coordination Committees, a network of opposition activists that organizes and documents protests in Syria. CNN's Yousuf Basil, Becky Brittain, Pierre Meilhan, Richard Roth, Mick Krever, Elise Labott, Salma Abdelaziz and Amir Ahmed, and journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.