The British government has condemned the Houla massacre in Syria. It called the killing of children "pure naked savagery" and says military intervention is becoming more difficult to avoid.

Alistair Burt, UK Minister for the Middle East, said, "We are not planning military action and we've already expressed our concerns in relation to putting more arms and weaponry in the area, but if massacres like this are to continue, if situations like this gets worse, then I'm not sure it's possible for the international community to say at this stage that no further action could possibly be considered in any circumstances. So nothing is being planned, but the danger is that things are steadily getting worse, it's entirely in the hands of Syrian regime and Assad to do something about this and he should take the opportunity as quickly as possible."