Syria's Houla massacre: UN Security Council meets

The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss the killing of at least 90 people, including 34 children, in the Syrian town of Houla.

The massacre has been widely condemned by world leaders.

The UK wants Russia, Syria's only major foreign ally, to put pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to halt civilian deaths.

The Syrian government has denied any involvement in the Houla killings, blaming "terrorists".

The closed meeting was called after Russia rejected a joint UK-French statement condemning the killings, diplomats say, and is due to start at 1830GMT.

Russia is said to want a briefing from the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Maj Gen Robert Mood.

Opposition activists say the Syrian military bombarded Houla after demonstrations. They say that some of the victims were killed during the shelling, while others were summarily executed at close range by the regime militia known as the "shabiha".

'Vile testament'

A Russian deputy foreign minister said he would press for a UN assessment of what happened.

"The tragic events in Syria and the deaths of tens of people deserve condemnation. However, it is necessary to seriously examine the causes of what happened," Gennady Gatilov said on Twitter.

So far, there is no sign that Houla will be a game-changer. First, remember that this massacre will be interpreted differently around the world.

Many countries sympathise with the Assad's government narrative that the opposition are Arab-backed Sunni fundamentalists and terrorists.

Just as some critics argue that the massacres in Libya last year and Racak, Kosovo, in 1999 are exaggerated or fabricated, similar scepticism about Houla will persist, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence - and that will affect how the UN Security Council lines up on the issue.

Moreover, the growing role of al-Qaeda and affiliated jihadist groups in Syria has, in recent months, become a further deterrent to intervention.

American officials are terrified that support for the opposition may end up in the hands of the very same people that mounted attacks on Western forces in Iraq just a few years ago.

Above all, however, no-one wants to pick a fight with Russia.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, who is travelling to Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, said Britain will lean on Russia to get Syria to implement the peace plan of UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

"It's not in the interests of Russia, just as it's not in the interests of anybody in the world, for Syria to descend into an even bloodier situation and into full-scale civil war - and that is now the danger," he said.

Gen Mood told the BBC that "the circumstances leading to the killing are still unclear" but were being investigated by UN monitors in Houla.

He also said that more than 34 children had now been confirmed as having died in Houla - up from the previous figure of 32.

"I have had patrols on the ground all the day yesterday afternoon and today we are gathering facts on the ground and then we will draw our own conclusions," he said.

The UN mission head said that some of the dead had been killed by tanks and other shot at close range.

Syria's foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said there was a clash in the area on Friday afternoon between security forces and armed terrorists.

He said hundreds of armed men then gathered, armed with heavy weapons including mortars and anti-tank weapons, and attacked Houla.

He said that army tanks had not been in the area.

The White House said it was horrified by the credible reports of the massacre.

"These acts serve as a vile testament to an illegitimate regime that responds to peaceful political protest with unspeakable and inhuman brutality," a White House spokesman said.

UN's Major General Robert Mood: "The disproportionate use of force is unacceptable"

In a joint statement on Saturday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Mr Annan said the attack was a "flagrant violation of international law".

They said the crime involved "indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force" and violated commitments by Syria's government.

In April, Damascus pledged to implement a six-point plan brokered by Mr Annan, including a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from urban areas.

Mr Annan is expected to visit Damascus on Monday to try to breathe life into the political process.

But the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) said it could no longer commit to the ceasefire unless the Security Council could ensure that civilians were protected.

In a statement, the FSA said that if urgent steps were not taken, then Mr Annan's plan was "going to hell".

It said killings in Syria were taking place "under the eyes of the UN observers," and called on states to "announce the failure of the Annan plan".

The UN says that at least 10,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Mr Assad in April 2011.