Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon has said that Israel will not interfere in the political crisis in Syria. Ya'alon's comments came as Russia and China vetoed a Western-Arab UN Security Council resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to step aside. The other 13 council members voted in favor of the resolution, which would have said that the council "fully supports" the Arab League plan. Ya'alon also referred to claims that Israel was sustaining Assad's rule in wake of political turmoil in Syria, saying that it was factually untrue because Israel never took a stand saying it was interested in the survival of Assad's regime. The vice prime minister spoke of the aftermath of Assad's possible ouster, saying that there could be various outcomes in such a situation, some of which could be positive as far as Israel is concerned, like a fissure in the Tehran-Damascus-Beirut-Hamas axis of evil. When asked if he felt Assad would be forced to step down, the vice PM said that it was still unclear but that Assad was losing his legitimacy and it was a matter of both time and of lives lost.