Tougher UN Syria moves appear unlikely Tougher UN measures against Syria in the wake of the massacre of more than 100 civilians in Houla seem unlikely after Russia and China on Wednesday reiterated their opposition to military intervention. The warnings come after François Hollande, the French president, said military action should not be ruled out and Germany said it would push for "new engagement" by the UN Security Council on Syria. More than eight leading developed nations, including the US, UK, France, Australia and Italy expelled senior Syrian diplomats on Tuesday. Japan on Wednesday said it had ordered the Syrian ambassador to leave while Syria's neighbour,Turkey, told Damascus to withdraw all its diplomats. Moscow supported a Security Council statement issued on Sunday strongly condemning the Houla massacre, criticising the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, for using heavy weapons against civilian populations and calling on all sides to end the violence. But Gennady Gatilov, deputy foreign minister, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that that statement was "a strong enough signal to the Syrian sides and a sufficient reaction by the council to the latest developments." External intervention "would only aggravate the situation with unpredictable consequences for Syria and the entire region," he continued. Mr Hollande is due to meet Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, on Friday, when he will lobby for tougher action against Damascus. On Wednesday Beijing made it clear that it still believed a cease-fire plan pushed by UN special envoy Kofi Annan should continue to be the focus of international efforts. Liu Weimin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, told a briefing that China opposed "military intervention and does not support forced regime change." "The fundamental route to resolving (the crisis) is still for all sides to fully support [Kofi] Annan's mediation efforts," he added. Mr Liu did say the Houla "incident" should be investigated thoroughly and the perpetrators brought to justice. Damascus has denied involvement in the massacre. Russia has twice vetoed western-backed security council resolutions since the uprising began 15 months ago. Mr Annan said after a two-hour meeting with Mr Assad on Tuesday that Syria was at a "tipping point" and that steps to end the conflict "cannot succeed without bold steps to stop the violence and release detainees." Bob Carr, the Australian foreign minister, acknowledged on Wednesday that military intervention would be difficult. "To arm the Syrian opposition involves real difficulties," Mr Carr said. Members of the Assad government will interpret this as a licence to slaughter even more vigorously than they've been doing to their political opponents. The UN Human Rights Council announced it would hold a special session on Friday to discuss the massacre. On Tuesday the UN human rights office said fewer than 20 of the 108 Houla fatalities were killed by heavy weapons, with the remainder being summarily executed.