United Nations-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said Monday after arriving in Damascus that he was shocked and appalled by violence in central Syria, which killed 108 people over the weekend, dpa reported.
The envoy described the Houla massacre as "an appalling moment with profound consequences."
Heavily shelling by government forces on the central town of Houla left at least 108 people dead, including some 32 children, and scores others were wounded.
Annan arrived in Damascus on Monday for talks with government officials as well as opposition figures, UN sources said. He is expected to meet with President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday.
"I come at a critical time," Annan said as he joined some 250 UN observers, supervising a UN-brokered ceasefire which went into effect on April 12, in Damascus.
His arrival came amid reports from activists that a "new massacre" has taken place in the central province of Hama, and claimed the lives of more than 50 people.
Upon arrival, Annan met with head of the observing mission in Syria, General Robert Mood, and expressed concerns regarding the deteriorating situation in Syria.
Annan urged all the implementation of his six-point peace plan, which calls for immediate halt of fighting and the start of dialogue between the rival parties.
"I will discuss with President al-Assad and opposition members the beginning a dialogue, and I will urge the Syrian authorities to confirm its credibility," Annan said.
His visit came after the UN Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned the government for using artillery in the town of Houla.
Iran, al-Assad's main ally in the region, has backed the Syrian version of the weekend killings, blaming it on terrorist groups.
Russia blamed both government forces and opposition forces for the Houla killings, after Moscow, in past statements, have mostly blamed the ongoing violence on opposition groups allegedly receiving illicit arms shipments from western nations.
Syria's conflicting sides need to resolve their differences by discussions, without "outside influence," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"It is not important to Russia who governs," Lavrov said, in comments reported by the Interfax news agency. "It is important that violence in Syria is ended, and that the destruction of life ends."
"China ... calls for an immediate investigation into this issue and to find the perpetrators. This incident again shows that Syria should waste no time to implement the ceasefire and end the violence," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin,
Meanwhile, violence continued on Monday with activists reporting that three officers were killed and 19 soldiers injured in a blast near their vehicle in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that clashes were raging at the outskirts of Damascus between rebels and government forces, during which two rebels were killed and nine were killed or wounded among the ranks of the regular army troops.
According to activists, the unrest in Syria has killed more than 12,000 people since protests against al-Assad began in March 2011.
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