Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, and Kofi Annan, his predecessor and envoy to Syria, issued a scathing condemnation. “This appalling and brutal crime involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force is a flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers and violence in all its forms,” the top United Nations officials said in a statement. A local activist giving his name as Abu Yazan reached via Skype said 12 people died in shelling and 106 were killed when pro-regime thugs known as shabiha stormed the area. Houla is a Sunni Muslim town, while three villages around it are mostly Alawite, the religion of President Bashar al-Assad and whose adherents are the core of his security forces. The Syrian government blamed “terrorists,” its catchall phrase for the opposition, for killing the civilians. Syria sharply limits access to the country for foreign correspondents, making independent verification of events there difficult. Activists said that there had been firefights between the armed opposition that controlled the village and the government forces besieging it. Despite their efforts, as well as the unusual step of the United Nations directly accusing the government of perpetrating major violence, the massacre soured Syrians even more on their presence, since the killing took place despite observers being deployed in nearby Homs. "They killed entire families, from parents on down to children, but they focused on the children," he said. “And the United States will work with the international community to intensify our pressure on Assad and his cronies, whose rule by murder and fear must come to an end.” 
 
 Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, issued a statement accusing Syria’s government of committing “new massacres” and added that France would organize a meeting of the roughly 80-member Friends of Syria group as soon as possible. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, said Britain was looking for a strong international response and hoped to convene an “urgent” session of the United Nations Security Council “in the coming days.” 
 
 The Syrian National Council, the umbrella opposition organization in exile, condemned the killing and called for three days of mourning. A local activist reached via Skype said regime forces started shelling the village of Houla, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the city of Homs in west-central Syria following an anti-regime demonstration following Muslim prayers on Friday.
– Six weeks after a supposed cease-fire, the UN has confirmed that pro-government forces killed at least 90 civilians yesterday, including more than two dozen children, reports the BBC. The violence took place in and around the town of Houla, near Homs, after an anti-government protest. About a dozen people were killed in shelling and the rest when pro-regime groups known as shabiha stormed the neighborhood and raided homes, activists tell AP. UN officials called the attacks "indiscriminate and unforgivable," and a "flagrant violation of international law." British Foreign Secretary William Hague has promised to seek a severe global response to the "appalling crime." But Syrian officials blamed the massacre on "terrorists"—their usual word for opposition forces, the New York Times reports. Grisly images have surfaced in amateur videos, one showing 14 dead children laid out in a room, notes AP.