International mediator Kofi Annan told Syrian president Bashar al-Assad today that "bold steps" were required for his six-point peace plan to succeed, including a halt to violence and release of people arrested in the uprising.
"Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan met President Bashar al-Assad this morning to convey the grave concern of the international community about the violence in Syria, including in particular the recent events in Houla,” a statement from Mr Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said following talks in Damascus.
"He conveyed in frank terms his view to President Assad that the six-point plan cannot succeed without bold steps to stop the violence and release detainees, and stressed the importance of full implementation of the plan.”
Mr Annan is attempting to salvage a six-week-old peace plan, backed by the United Nations and the Arab League, that has barely slowed the bloodshed in a 14-month-old uprising against Dr Assad.
On arrival in Damascus yesterday, Mr Annan called on the authorities to act to end the killing after what he called the "appalling crime" late last week in the Syrian town of Houla, in which at least 108 people, almost half of them children, were killed.
A UN rights spokesman in Geneva said today fewer than 20 of the Houla victims had been killed by artillery and tank fire, and that survivors had told UN investigators that most of the others had been executed by pro-Assad shabbiha militia in their homes.
Syrian officials denied any army role in the massacre, one of the worst since the uprising against Dr Assad.
The US, Britain, France, Germany and Australia have expelled Syrian diplomats, including chiefs of mission, while Italy has declared the Syrian ambassador and other embassy staff "persona non grata".
French president Francois Hollande said he was expelling the Syrian ambassador and Paris would host a Friends of Syria meeting in early July to discuss ways to help the Syrian opposition.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius called Dr Assad a murderer and Australia's Bob Carr said those responsible for the massacre at Houla would be held to account.
"Bashar al-Assad is the murderer of his people. He must relinquish power. The sooner the better," Mr Fabius said in an interview with Le Monde.
Mr Carr said Australians were "appalled" by the killings. "We will pursue a unified international response to hold those responsible to account," he said. "This massacre of more than 100 men, women and children in Houla was a hideous and brutal crime."
Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the killings and said there was a limit to the world's patience. "To carry out this kind of murder...while the United Nations observer mission is carrying out its mission in Syria is
torture, it is wretched."
Russia and China, which have defended Dr Assad against Western demands for UN sanctions, backed a non-binding Security Council text on Sunday that criticised the use of artillery and tanks in Houla - weaponry Syria's rebels do not have.
Meanwhile, rebel forces killed 20 soldiers in heavy fighting around a northern Syrian town close to the border with Turkey, opposition sources said today. They said six civilians and six rebels, including two rebel commanders, were also killed over the past 24 hours in the fighting after the army began an offensive with tanks and helicopters to retake the region around Atareb in Aleppo province.
Western and some Sunni Muslim Arab countries want Dr Assad to step down to help end a conflict that has now claimed some 10,000 lives by United Nations estimates.
Mr Mekdad said he expected Mr Annan to pressure the foreign states backing what Syria describes as a "terrorist" conspiracy funded abroad.
Sunni Muslim Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar favour arming the mostly-Sunni rebels fighting Dr Assad, whose ruling cadre are mostly Alawites, members of an offshoot of Shia Islam.
"We think that Mr Annan will make all efforts, in the next few days and weeks, to convince the countries that finance and support those terrorist groups to stop lying about wanting the plan to succeed," Mr Mekdad said.