Syrian government denies responsibility for Houla deaths

Syrian authorities have denied carrying out a massacre that opposition activists said killed at least 90 people, many of them children, in the central town of Houla.

Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdesi, told reporters in Damascus that this was not the "hallmark of the heroic Syrian army."

Makdesi said the massacre was carried out by "terrorists" after fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Assad.

Several countries have made clear they hold the Syrian government responsible.