Syria 'failing to keep to truce', says Ban Ki-moon 
 
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 The UN secretary general says Syria has failed to comply with its obligation under a peace plan to pull troops and heavy weapons out of urban areas. 
 
 In a letter to the UN Security Council, Ban Ki-moon also called for an observer mission to be expanded from the small number already in the country to 300. 
 
 There are continued reports of violence in Syria, threatening a fragile ceasefire that began a week ago. 
 
 However, Mr Ban also said there was an "opportunity for progress". 
 
 Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet foreign ministers in Paris later to discuss the crisis. 
 
 Violence 'escalating' 
 
 The peace plan, negotiated by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, aims to end more than a year of unrest thought to have killed at least 9,000 people. 
 
 Continue reading the main story Analysis Both the Syrian government and the UN observers say they are close to reaching agreement on a protocol that would provide the operational framework for the UN observer mission. Points still at issue appear to be over how much independence of movement the monitors would have, for example whether they can deploy their own helicopters to get around. So far, the handful of observers who are already there have been able to visit the southern city of Deraa without incident. But there was trouble when they went to Arbeen, one of the suburbs of Damascus. A crowd of anti-government protesters quickly gathered, shooting broke out, and the observers had to escape in a hurry. Activists said several people were wounded. The monitors have also asked to go to Homs, where bombardment has continued, but the authorities have so far not permitted them. 
 
 Expressing concern over continuing violence, Mr Ban said it was critical that the government kept its pledge to withdraw troops from populated areas. 
 
 He said while the level of violence dropped markedly when the ceasefire began, there had been an escalation in recent days, and breaches had been reported by both sides. 
 
 He also noted that there had been "no significant release of detainees", and "no substantive progress" in negotiations on humanitarian access, in reference to other aspects of Mr Annan's six-point plan. 
 
 He said observers had been prevented from going to the city of Homs after the government cited "security concerns". But observers were allowed to visit the town of Deraa freely. 
 
 The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says that while the trip to Deraa took place without incident, observers found themselves mobbed by protesters in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen. 
 
 Gunfire broke out and observers had to get out, he says. Several demonstrators were injured, according to activists. 
 
 In his report, Mr Ban said: "The situation in Arbeen became tense when a crowd that was part of an opposition demonstration forced United Nations vehicles to a checkpoint." 
 
 "Subsequently, the crowd was dispersed by firing projectiles. Those responsible for the firing could not be ascertained by the United Nations military observers." 
 
 Continue reading the main story Syria observer mission UN Security Council resolution 2042 approves a team of up to 30 unarmed observers 
 
 An initial group of six monitors arrives in Syria 
 
 The rest of the advance team is set to follow later 
 
 Once certain conditions are met, the UN will seek Security Council approval for an expanded force 
 
 The advance team of up to 30 monitors was authorised by a UN resolution passed on Saturday. 
 
 Mr Ban wants to increase the mission to 300 observers, to be deployed in 10 locations in stages over the coming weeks as conditions allow. 
 
 The UN Security Council is due to hold a closed-door meeting later on Thursday to discuss the report. A vote on a new resolution, however, is not expected until next week. 
 
 Activists said at least 30 people were killed on Wednesday, mostly in Homs where shelling has continued. Syrian state media on Thursday reported that four soldiers were killed in attacks in Aleppo. 
 
 Speaking ahead of a "Friends of Syria" meeting of foreign ministers in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for humanitarian corridors to be established in Syria. 
 
 "[President] Bashar al-Assad is lying... He wants to wipe Homs off the map just like [former Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi wanted to destroy Benghazi," he said. 
 
 "The solution is the establishment of humanitarian corridors so that an opposition can exist in Syria," Mr Sarkozy told Europe 1 radio. 
 
 Russia said it was not attending the Friends of Syria talks, with a foreign ministry statement saying that the meeting was "not aimed at finding the grounds for dialogue within Syria, but quite the opposite". 
 
 A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Liu Weimin, meanwhile said it was "seriously considering" sending its own team of monitors. 
 
 In Turkey, port authorities are to search a ship after reports that it was carrying arms destined for Syria. 
 
 The Atlantic Cruiser, which is owned by a German firm but flies an Antigua and Barbuda flag, has docked at the Turkish port of Iskenderun. 
 
 German magazine Der Spiegel first reported last week that the cargo ship was carrying Iranian arms, which were loaded at a port in Djibouti, for Syria. ||||| Syrians wave revolutionary flags and chant slogans at a night protest against President Bashar Assad in a neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 2, 2012. (AP Photo) (Associated Press) 
 
 The United Nations expects a ceasfire between Syrian troops and opposition forces to be in place no later than April 12, a spokesman for the U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said Thursday, as activists reported a fierce attack by government troops on a Damascus suburb. 
 
 Kofi Annan's peace plan had previously set the April 10 deadline for Syrian troops to pull out of towns and cities. 
 
 Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said they expect both sides to end the hostilities within 48 hours of the already agreed April 10th deadline. 
 
 "The clock starts ticking on the 10th for both sides to cease all forms of violence," he said. 
 
 Fawzi said that by then the Syrian military units should withdraw from populated centers and no new units should move into cities. 
 
 Activists, meanwhile, said Syrian troops were attacking a suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, in what they described as one of the most violent campaigns since the year-old uprising began. 
 
 Syria has told U.N. officials that it is withdrawing troops from the southern province of Daraa, the northwestern province of Idlib and the rebel-controlled mountain resort town of Zabadani, north of Damascus, Fawzi said. ||||| UN envoy Kofi Annan meets Syria's Bashar al-Assad 
 
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 UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is holding talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. 
 
 Mr Annan's plan to end the country's conflict has been overshadowed by international revulsion at Friday's massacre in the Houla region. 
 
 Mr Annan called the massacre "an appalling moment with profound consequences". 
 
 Survivors have told the BBC of their shock and fear as regime forces entered their homes and killed their families. 
 
 Mr Annan said the Syrian government had to take "bold steps" to show it is serious about peace. 
 
 He said his "message of peace is not only for the government, but for everyone with a gun". 
 
 Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote They took us to a room, and hit my father on the head with the back of a rifle and shot him straight in the chin” End Quote Rasha Abdul Razaq, survivor 
 
 The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says it is make-or-break time for Mr Annan's peace plan, and he has to get something out of his visit to stop the drift towards a vicious sectarian civil war. 
 
 The former UN secretary general is expected to press President Assad to make good on earlier promises, and much will depend on the position taken by Syria's main international ally and diplomatic protector, Russia, our correspondent adds. 
 
 On Monday Mr Annan held talks with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Major General Robert Mood. 
 
 Under Mr Annan's plan, both sides were to stop fighting on 12 April ahead of the deployment of monitors, and the government was to withdraw tanks and forces from civilian areas. 
 
 Russia, which has twice blocked UN Security Council resolutions backing action against the Damascus government, said on Monday that both sides bore responsibility for Friday's massacre. 
 
 Continue reading the main story Annan's six-point plan 1. Process led by Syrian parties working with international envoy 2. End to violence by all sides; army troops to stop using heavy weapons and withdraw to barracks 3. Parties to allow humanitarian aid 4. Authorities to free detainees 5. Authorities to ensure freedom of movement for journalists 6. Authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations 
 
 "We are dealing with a situation in which both sides evidently had a hand in the deaths of innocent civilians," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. 
 
 Western leaders have expressed horror at the killings, and the UK, France and US have all begun moves to raise diplomatic pressure on the Assad government. 
 
 France is convening another meeting of the so-called Friends of Syria group, which Russia does not take part in. 
 
 "The murderous folly of the Damascus regime represents a threat for regional security and its leaders will have to answer for their acts," said President Francois Hollande's office. 
 
 'I saw bodies' 
 
 Survivors who spoke to the BBC, and the local commander of the Free Syrian Army, said the people who carried out the killings were militiamen - shabbiha - from nearby Alawite villages. 
 
 Their accounts cannot be confirmed, but they are consistent with one another, and also with the reports given by activist groups on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the massacres, our correspondent says. 
 
 Continue reading the main story Taldou, Houla region The region of Houla, in the west of Syria, comprises several villages and small towns 
 
 The village of Taldou lies around 2km south-west of the main town, also called Houla 
 
 The area is in the province of Homs, which has seen heavy fighting in recent months 
 
 Houla's villages are predominantly Sunni Muslim, but the region is ringed by a number of Alawite villages - the sect of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad 
 
 Syrian leaders insist that the massacre was the work of hundreds of armed rebels who massed in the area, and who carried out the killings to derail the peace process and provoke intervention by Western powers. 
 
 Several witnesses said they hid or played dead to survive. 
 
 UN observers who visited the village of Taldou where the massacre happened said they had found evidence of shelling from government forces. 
 
 They also confirmed that some of the 108 victims - many of whom were children - had been killed by close-range gunfire or knife attacks. 
 
 "We were in the house, they went in, the shabbiha and security, they went in with Kalashnikovs and automatic rifles," survivor Rasha Abdul Razaq told the BBC. 
 
 "They took us to a room and hit my father on the head with the back of a rifle and shot him straight in the chin." 
 
 Of 20 family members and friends in the house at the time, she said only four had survived. 
 
 Another resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said he hid in the attic as gunmen took his family outside and shot them. 
 
 "I opened the door, and I saw bodies, I couldn't recognise my kids from my brothers. It was indescribable. I have three children, I lost three children," he said.
– Fierce clashes continue to erupt in Syria, even as the UN's deadline for a ceasefire looms a week from today. Kofi Annan's peace plan requires Syrian troops to withdraw from towns and cities by April 10, and the UN expects both sides to stop fighting within two days afterward, the AP reports. A UN team will arrive in the country today to discuss the deployment of observers who will monitor the ceasefire plan, the Guardian adds. Even so, activists report fighting in several areas today, Reuters notes, including government troops reportedly staging one of the most violent attacks so far on a Damascus suburb. One activist group says at least 27 have been killed today. But Syrian officials tell Annan, the UN-Arab League envoy, that troops are already beginning to withdraw from Daraa, Idlib, and Zabadani.