The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to extend its monitoring mission in Syria - but only for 30 days.
It comes after the 300 unarmed observers suspended their mission last month because of escalating violence.
The mission is considered crucial to implementing international envoy Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan, which has been flouted by President Bashar al Assad's government.
The council voted shortly after Russia's ambassador to France, Alexander Orlov, said he believed Mr Assad was ready to step down "in a civilised way."
The Syrian government immediately denied it, and the Russian Foreign Ministry said the ambassador's statements were "wrongly interpreted".
The UN suspended the observer' patrols and most of their other activities on June 16 because of increased violence, and its mandate had been set to expire on Friday.
The force's future had been in doubt following Russian and Chinese vetoes of a Western-backed UN resolution on Thursday pressuring Mr Assad's government to end the civil war by threatening sanctions.
Russia had opposed the resolution on grounds that it opened the door to military action, which it adamantly opposes.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin had said on Friday morning that he would also veto the original British-drafted resolution on the observer mission and support a rival Pakistani text that would have extended the mission for 45 days, with the possibility of further renewals.
But after closed-door consultations called by Pakistan, all 15 council members reached agreement on a revised British text, which allows for the mission's renewal after 30 days if Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council confirm that the Syrian government has withdrawn heavy weapons from populated areas and both sides have significantly reduced the violence so the observers can do their job.
US Ambassador Susan Rice said the resolution would allow the observers to withdraw safely, and it was unlikely the situation on the ground would change enough to enable their mandate to be renewed a second time.
With the divided Security Council unable to adopt a resolution threatening sanctions, the US and European Union are pressing to enforce their own.
The EU announced it will enforce an arms embargo against Syria by boarding ships and aircraft on EU territory or in its waters suspected of carrying suspicious cargo to the war-torn nation. It said the boardings would start following expected approval by EU foreign ministers on Monday.
Meanwhile, Syrian forces launched an all-out assault on opposition strongholds in Damascus on Friday, a day after rebels seized crossings on the Iraq and Turkey borders on the 16-month conflict's deadliest day so far.
Rebel fighters also clashed with troops in several neighbourhoods of Aleppo in what the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said was the fiercest fighting so far in Syria's second city.
