Russia said on Monday it did not support the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad but urged world powers to work for the peace plan of U.N. envoy Kofi Annan and not regime change.

"We do not support the Syrian government. We support the plan of Kofi Annan," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint news conference with his British counterpart William Hague.

China on Monday condemned a massacre of more than 100 people in the central Syrian town of Houla and called for an immediate investigation to identify those responsible.

Beijing's comments came as U.N.-Arab envoy Kofi Annan headed to Damascus in a bid to salvage his battered peace plan a day after the United Nations condemned the Syrian regime's use of artillery in Houla.

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Damascus on Monday for talks with top officials, Syria's pro-government al-Ikhbariya television reported.

The former U.N. chief was to meet Foreign Minister Walid Muallem later on Monday ahead of talks with President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, a Syrian official source said earlier, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The U.N. Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned the Syrian government for using artillery in a massacre in which at least 108 people were killed and 300 others injured.

U.N. officials said the slaughter in Houla -- the subject of an emergency Security Council meeting -- claimed the lives of 49 children and 34 women.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon and U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday condemned a massacre of more than 90 civilians in Syria as a "brutal" breach of international law by the government, a spokesman said.

Ban and Annan "condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children" at Houla, said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.

Britain said Saturday it was in urgent talks with allied countries on "a strong international response" after the bodies of more than 90 people including children were found in a Syrian town.

"We are consulting urgently with our allies on a strong international response, including at the U.N. Security Council, the EU and U.N. human rights bodies," Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

The Free Syrian Army said on Saturday it could no longer commit to the ceasefire brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan unless there was an immediate solution to regime violence.

"We announce that unless the U.N. Security Council takes urgent steps for the protection of civilians, Annan's plan is going to go to hell," a statement by the FSA said.

France condemns the "massacre" by Syrian forces which reportedly killed more than 90 people in the town of Houla and calls for greater international action, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday.

"I am making immediate arrangements for a Friends of Syria group meeting in Paris," Fabius said in a statement in the wake of Friday's attacks on the town in a new violation of a ceasefire.

The U.N. mission chief in Syria Major General Robert Mood on Saturday condemned the "brutal tragedy" in Houla, where he said 92 bodies, including those of more than 32 children, had been counted.

Mood said he condemns "in the strongest possible terms the brutal tragedy" in Houla in the central province of Homs, adding that U.N. monitors visited the area and counted 92 bodies, including "more than 32 under the age of 10."

The rebel Free Syrian Army called on Saturday for the Friends of Syria to carry out air strikes on the forces of President Bashar Assad after more than 90 people, including 25 children, were reportedly "massacred" in the town of Houla.

Turkey-based General Mustafa Ahmed al-Sheikh, head of the FSA's military council, called on the international community to take "an appropriate stance after the heinous crime committed by Assad's assassin regime in the Houla region."