• UNSC condemns 'outrageous use of force' in Houla
• Activists claim dozens killed in a fresh atrocity in Hama
• Kofi Annan due in Damascus
• Hague calls on Russia to punish the Assad regime
UN observers at a morgue holding victims of the Houla massacre. Photograph: Shaam News/AFP/Getty Images
9.49am: Hague and Lavrov were asked whether Assad should stand aside in a Yemen-style agreement, as the Obama administration is pushing for.
Hague stressed the importance of Annan's plan.
Lavrov said the priority was stopping violence. "Everything else is secondary," he said. He said the need for political dialogue in Syria was non-negotiable.
Kofi Annan's plan has to be supported, he said. He suggested that talk of political transition in Syria was undermining the plan. "We sincerely want to implement Kofi Annan's plan," he said.
9.40am: The foreign ministers of Russia and the UK have reiterated their commitment to the Annan plan in Syria, but admitted their differences on the crisis.
Speaking at a joint news conference in Moscow, after holding talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, William Hague said the two men agreed that the the Annan plan is the "best and only hope" for a solution.
Hague said the discussions were frank and honesty, and that he Lavrov did not agree on everything.
Lavrov said "both sides" were to blame for the deaths of innocent civilians in Houla. He talked of the need for "mechanisms" to implement Annan's plan.
Hague said the Assad regime was primarily responsible for the violence in Syria, but not all it.
9.15am: China has condemned the "cruel killings" in Houla but has said nothing yet about who was to blame.
Reuters quoted foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin as saying:
China feels deeply shocked by the large number of civilian casualties in Houla, and condemns in the strongest terms the cruel killings of ordinary citizens, especially woman and children.
8.57am: Syrian activists are reporting a fresh atrocity, according to Reuters:
The Syrian army's bombardment of the city of Hama has killed at least 41 people in the past 24 hours, an opposition group in the city said on Monday.
Syrian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles opened fire on several neighbourhoods of Hama on Sunday after a series of attacks by rebel Free Syrian Army fighters on roadblocks and other positions manned by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, opposition sources said.
The dead included five women and eight children, the Hama Revolution Leadership Council said in a statement.
"Tank shelling brought down several buildings. Their inhabitants were pulled out from the rubble and many are in a critical condition," the statement said.
unverified images purporting to show the bodies of men, women and children killed in the bombardment of Hama have been circulated by activists. [Warning: extremely disturbing images].
8.51am: Kofi Annan is due to meet Bashar al-Assad tomorrow, a Syrian official told AFP.
Britain's former ambassador to the UN, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, is pessimistic about Annan's chances of success, according to an interview on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
BBC Radio 4 Today @BBCr4today “I don’t think he [Kofi Annan] can stop either the regime or the opposition from using arms” - Sir Jeremy Greenstock #Syria 28 May 12
BBC Radio 4 Today @BBCr4today Most likely scenario in #Syria “is the increase of the use of arms on either side and descent into further violence” - Sir Jeremy Greenstock 28 May 12
8.11am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live.
Will the Houla massacre become a turning point in the crisis in Syria, or just another bloody episode in the 14-month uprising?
Here's a roundup of the latest developments:
Syria
• The United Nations security council, including Russia and China, has condemned the "outrageous use of force" by the Syrian government following the massacre of more than 100 civilians, including dozens of children, in Houla. But Russia said it is unlikely government forces would have killed civilians at point-blank range and suggested there was a third force – terrorists or external agents – seeking to trigger outside intervention. After an emergency meeting of the council it issued a non-binding statement, which said:
The security council condemned in the strongest possible terms the killings, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children and the wounding of hundreds more … in attacks that involved a series of government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighbourhood
.International envoy Kofi Annan is to visit Damascus today in an attempt to salvage his failed peace plan, the BBC reports. On Sunday, Syria refused permission for Annan's deputy to travel to Damascus with him, a senior Arab League official told AFP. Meanwhile, Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Jafa'ari has rejected what he called a "tsunami of lies" from some security council members over the Houla massacre.
• Barack Obama is preparing to push Russia to back the departure of Assad under a scheme modelled on the transition of power in Yemen, according to the New York Times. Under the plan the international community would broker a settlement in which Bashar al-Assad would leave, but remnants of the political structure would remain intact.
• Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, criticised Obama for backing the Annan plan, Talking Points Memo reports.
The Annan 'peace' plan — which President Obama still supports — has merely granted the Assad regime more time to execute its military onslaught ...The United States should work with partners to organise and arm Syrian opposition groups so they can defend themselves.
• The Guardian's Martin Chulov, who is just back from an under cover visit to Syria, pieces together how the massacre in Houla unfolded based on testimony from residents.
In a few short hours, the town of Houla joined the sorry list of localities whose names have become synonymous with the merciless slaughter of civilians. Srebrenica. Nyarubuye. My Lai. Up to now, the Syrian conflict has killed 13,000 people. But until this weekend, it had yet to include the mass slaughter of nursery-age infants.
"The shelling started around 3pm," said Abu Jaffour. "I was in the fields at the time and we tried to reach the area being bombed. It took us three hours to get there. When I reached the houses it was dreadful. I was carrying babies' bodies that had parts of their heads hanging out."
• Both sides share responsibility for the bloodshed in Houla, according to Patrick Seale, the biographer of Bashar al-Assad's father Hafez.
The regime's strategy is to prevent – at all costs – its armed opponents from seizing and holding territory inside the country, as this might give foreign powers a base from which to operate. As soon as it identifies pockets of armed opponents, it sends in its troops to crush them. That it often uses disproportionate force is not in doubt: this is all too predictable when a conventional army faces hit-and-run opponents. Trapped between opposing forces, civilians inevitably pay the price.
• Members of Assad's family and inner circle are directly ordering the commission of crimes against humanity in Syria, according to new evidence to be broadcast by Channel 4's Dispatches. The programme's reporter, Jonathan Miller, writes:
Defectors from Syrian intelligence and security agencies, used by the regime to crush the revolt, claim that Assad's cousin issued shoot-to-kill orders against civilian protesters in Dera'a, the cradle of the insurrection. Kill quotas were reportedly issued to snipers tasked with assassinating pro-democracy activists.
They allege that Assad's brother Maher, a senior army commander, was among senior figures operating out of a secret command centre in Dera'a when orders were issued to contain a protest march by all means necessary.
• The foreign secretary, William Hague, is expected to press his Russian counterpart on the spiralling crisis in Syria during his visit to Moscow. In a Twitter message sent before his arrival Hague said:
William Hague @WilliamJHague
In Moscow tomorrow. Will call on Russia to support rapid & unequivocal pressure on #Assad regime and accountability for crimes. #Syria
27 May 12
• The Houla massacre could represent a turning point, according to Middle East analyst Juan Cole. Writing on his blog Informed Comment, Cole says
The outcome in Houla is so horrific that it may turn the stomachs of the remaining Syrians who are on the fence, and produce a new backlash against the regime. The revolution in Syria is a contest of wills between the regime on the one hand, and on the other the revolutionaries (who have a civil and a military wing that seldom agree). The revolutionaries have remained steadfast in the face of massive brutality, for over a year. Their will seems strong. The regime seems to be popular in fewer and fewer places. The will of all but its devoted cadres is being shaken.
Egypt
• Hamdeen Sabahy, the leftist candidate who looks set to fail to make the runoff ballot, has demanded a recount, citing many "violations", the BBC reports. Next month's runoff is expected to between the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Morsi and Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq. Sabahy who came third claimed conscripts had voted illegally.
***
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