The Security Council must be “united this time, speak and act in a coherent manner, reflecting the wishes of the international community and reflecting the urgent wishes and aspirations of the Syrian people who have been yearning for freedom,” Ban said after talks in Amman with Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
“This is crucially important,” he told a press conference hours before a Security Council meeting at which the Arab League was to appeal for backing for its political plan for an end to the Syria crisis.
Earlier, he said he hoped the Security Council meeting “will bear quick fruit so that the council can meet the expectations of the international community.”
The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain and France are in New York to back the Arab League and a draft resolution they have jointly drawn up condemning the Syria violence.
But Russia opposes the draft, saying that moves to force President Bashar Assad, Russia's last major Middle East ally, are unacceptable.
An Arab League plan, which the Western nations want the Security Council to back, would call on Assad to hand over powers to his deputy so that new elections can be held.
Russia and China used their veto powers as permanent members of the council to block a previous resolution on Syria. “It is more urgent than ever to put an end to this bloodshed and violence and to start a credible political solution,” Ban said.
While it was not too late for Assad to “take decisive and bold reform measures” the Syria crisis has become “a threat to regional, even international peace and security,” Ban said. Ban praised Jordan's measures to welcome about 2,500 Syrians who have fled across the border since protests against Assad erupted last March.
"You have to know that we are extremely prepared for any outcome and that our contingency plans are there," the Jordanian minister commented when asked about the threat of more refugees flooding across the border.
"We certainly have been keeping an eye on the situation up north and we have contingency plans linked to any possible development," he added.
A senior Russian diplomat warned Tuesday that the draft UN resolution demanding Assad step aside is a "path to civil war," as Syrian troops crushed pockets of resistance by rebel soldiers on the outskirts of Damascus.
The Security Council was expected to meet Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and some Arab powers. But Russia would likely veto any punitive action.
"The Western draft Security Council resolution on Syria does not lead to a search for compromise," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov wrote on Twitter. "Pushing this resolution is a path to civil war."
Russia has been one of Assad's strongest backers as he tries to crush an uprising that began nearly 11 months ago. In October, Moscow vetoed the first council attempt to condemn Syria's crackdown and has shown little sign of budging in its opposition.
Russia fears the new measure could open the door to eventual military intervention, the way an Arab-backed UN resolution provided the mandate for NATO airstrikes in Libya.
The UN estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed in the Syrian government crackdown. The bloodshed spiked Monday as regime forces retook control of the eastern suburbs of Damascus after rebel soldiers briefly captured them.
The death toll from Monday's offensive was around 100 people, making it one among the bloodiest days since the uprising began in March, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group.
Early Tuesday, government forces moved into the two towns near Damascus still in rebel hands.
“Intense shooting was heard in Zamalka and Arbeen as the tanks advanced,” the Observatory said, citing its network of sources on the ground. Regime forces made sweeping arrests in the nearby town of Rankous, activists said.
