Annan meets Syrian President Assad

International envoy Kofi Annan is meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad to discuss the peace plan meant to end the country’s 15-month-old crisis.

That plan appears increasingly shaky following a massacre of more than 100 people, many of them women and children, last week.

The UN said Syrian government forces fired tank shells and artillery at the villages that make up Houla, but stopped short of blaming them for the killings.

Activists said most of the dead were killed by pro-government thugs who stormed the area.

The Houla killings prompted sweeping international condemnation and the harshest language yet from Syrian ally Russia – making it a potential turning point in the crisis that has killed more than 9,000 people.

Today’s meeting between Mr Annan and Mr Assad is taking place in the capital, Damascus.