Moscow backing of Assad leaves hopes for united front in tatters

A Foreign Office minister called for the international community to unite to take further action against Syria following the “revolting” massacre at Houla.

Nearly nine weeks after Bashar al-Assad's regime formally agreed the UN six-point peace plan, and six weeks after the ceasefire was supposed to come into effect, the killing continues unabated.

International envoy Kofi Annan says world powers share a “profound concern” that Syria's violence is spiraling into civil war but have pledged to deploy 300 truce monitors there by the end of the month.

China and Russia are resisting joining Western pressure on the UN Security Council to threaten Sudan and South Sudan with sanctions if the two countries fail to comply with demands to halt their escalating conflict.

A string of bomb blasts ripped through Syria yesterday, including three powerful explosions in the north-western city of Idlib – killing nine people – highlighting the momentous challenge facing the UN monitoring mission as it attempts to shore up a threadbare ceasefire.

As the UN team drove out of the Damascus suburb of Douma yesterday, regime tanks were said to have rolled in – offering another indication that President Bashar al-Assad is adopting a strategy of brutal mass punishment for those who turn out to show observers their discontent with the regime.

North Korea's military warned yesterday of imminent "special actions" that would reduce South Korea's government to ashes within minutes, sharply escalating the rhetoric against its southern rival.

The African Union mediator, Thabo Mbeki, has urged the UN Security Council to act to stop the fighting between Sudan and South Sudan, warning that the sides are locked in a "logic of war" with hardliners increasingly in control.

As the orchestrated mass celebrations commemorating the centenary of the birth of its "Eternal Supreme Leader" Kim Il-Sung drew to a close, North Korea's latest abortive rocket launch was met with opprobrium from the UN Security Council and the threat of a new wave of sanctions.

The ceasefire in Syria so far has been patchy, inadequate, and violated by both sides, most egregiously by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, who have broken a pledge to withdraw from all towns and cities and bombarded districts of Homs again yesterday. But the – distinctly relative – calm has shown that a ceasefire, however imperfect, is an improvement on the free-for-all that proceeded it, with the glaring imbalance of power between the regime and the opposition exacting a murderous toll.

Syrian troops have resumed their shelling of residential neighbourhoods dominated by rebels in the central city of Homs, activists say.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has welcomed unanimous United Nations Security Council backing for deployment of military observers to monitor the ceasefire in Syria as a "vital step".

Activists claim at least five people killed as soldiers use live rounds across the country