If confirmed, it would mark the single bloodiest attack since a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations and the Arab League was put into effect across the country last month.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for a "strong international response", saying the reports of mass killings were "credible and horrific".
He said: "Our urgent priority is to establish a full account of this appalling crime and to move swiftly to ensure that those responsible are identified and held to account.
"We are consulting urgently with our allies on a strong international response, including at the UN Security Council, the EU and UN Human Rights bodies.
"We will be calling for an urgent session of the UN Security Council in the coming days."
Up to 250 UN observers are in Syria to monitor the ceasefire - and on Saturday a team arrived in the Houla region, which is made up of several villages in the province of Homs, after reports of a massacre.
Amateur videos posted on YouTube showed graphic images of dead children lying on a floor - victims of the alleged shelling by regime forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said: "A team of UN observers arrived in the village of Taldau (on the outskirts of) Houla, to document the crimes committed in the past 24 hours, in violation of the ceasefire."
Earlier, Walid Saffour, from the Syrian Human Rights Committee, said President Bashar al Assad's forces were "continuing their onslaught" in Houla.
"The inaction of the international community helps the Syrian authorities to perpetrate these massacres on a large scale," he told Sky News.
The Syrian government, for its part, blamed the killings on "armed terrorist groups" but provided no details on the number of dead.
Another video uploaded online said it showed a protest in the capital Damascus condemning the Houla attacks.
Women hiding their faces were carrying signs condemning the Syrian forces but also the UN monitors.
Some read: "We don't want an international criminal to observe how we are killed" and was dated May 26, 2012.
Others said: "The Syrian regime kills us under supervision of the UN observers".
France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius condemned the alleged massacre and said he was "making immediate arrangements for a Friends of Syria group meeting in Paris".
Meanwhile, the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) again called for the Friends of Syria group of nations to carry out airstrikes on the forces of President Assad.
According to the AFP news agency, the FSA has said it is no longer committed to the peace plan negotiated with the Assad regime.
Syria's main opposition bloc has also urged the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to examine what happened in Houla.
"Some of the victims were hit by heavy artillery while others, entire families, were massacred," Bassma Kodmani, of the Syrian National Council, said.
The latest violence comes as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets, and tanks were reportedly deployed to counter public action after Friday prayers.
For the first time since the uprising against President Assad's regime erupted 14 months ago, army tanks rumbled through Aleppo, the London-based Syrian Observatory said.
Meanwhile, a report by current UN leader Ban Ki-moon said that groups fighting President Assad now control "significant" parts of some cities and there is "considerable physical destruction" across the country.
"There is a continuing crisis on the ground, characterised by regular violence, deteriorating humanitarian conditions, human rights violations and continued political confrontation," the report said.
The report is to be debated by the UN Security Council next week.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.
No comments:
Post a Comment