'Give Annan plan a chance'

Britain is expelling three senior Syrian diplomats, as part of a coordinated international protest against the mass killings in the Syrian town of Houla on Friday. UN human rights officials say most of the victims were executed. The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said the international community was sending a message that it was "appalled" by the murder of innocent civilians.

Paulo Pinheiro, who chairs the UN Commission of Inquiry into Syria, told The World at One's Shaun Ley that says the solution to the crisis still lies in dialogue with both President Assad's government and the rebel groups.

"I think that Kofi Annan must have another chance to go ahead of this," he explained. "Again, I think that we have to support responsibility until the limits because any other scenario would be catastrophic.

"Of course I hope that, at a certain point, the Security Council will have to assert and to make decisions about the situation in Syria. But for the time being, I think that the game plan is the mission of Kofi Annan."