UN observers have counted at least 90 bodies, including 32 children, after a Syrian government attack on a town.
UN mission head Maj-Gen Robert Mood told the BBC the killing in Houla was "indiscriminate and unforgivable".UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he would seek a strong international response to the "appalling crime" - France and the Arab League have also condemned the massacre.
This is one of the bloodiest attacks since a nominal truce began in April.
France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and the Arab League also condemned the assault.
Mr Fabius said he was making immediate arrangements for a Paris meeting of the Friends of Syria group, which includes Western and Arab nations, but not Russia or China, who have blocked previous attempts to introduce UN sanctions.
Fighting in Syria has continued despite the deployment of some 250 UN observers monitoring a cease-fire brokered by UN envoy Kofi Annan - a ceasefire which the BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says is now "pretty fictional".
The UN says at least 10,000 have been killed since an uprising began in March 2011 against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
Day of mourning
Mr Hague said he would be calling for an urgent session of the UN Security Council in the coming days.
Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi called the killing a
"horrific crime" and urged the Security Council to "stop the escalation
of killing and violence by armed gangs and government military forces,"
the Reuters news agency reports.Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi called the killing a "horrific crime" and urged the Security Council to "stop the escalation of killing and violence by armed gangs and government military forces," the Reuters news agency reports.
The opposition Free Syrian Army says it can no longer commit to the ceasefire unless the Security Council can ensure civilians are protected, the AFP news agency reports.
A team of UN observers visited Houla on Saturday and afterwards Maj-Gen Mood said they could confirm "the use of small arms machine gun, artillery and tanks."
An activist in Houla told the Associated Press that troops began the assault on Houla after an anti-regime demonstration following Muslim prayers on Friday.
The assault began with artillery shelling which killed 12, he said - but scores more were butchered when pro-regime thugs known as "shabiha" then stormed the area.
The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said more than 110 people died. The SNC's Ausama Monajed told the BBC the regime was selecting vulnerable towns to "teach the entire country a lesson".
"It is beyond humanity what we have seen," he said.
Activists have called a day of mourning.
Horrific video footage has emerged of dozens of dead children, covered in blood, their arms and legs strewn over one another. It is unverified, but our correspondent says such images would be difficult to fake.
In one instance, six members of a family were killed when their house was shelled, the Observatory said.
International media cannot report freely in Syria and it is impossible to verify reports of violence.
The BBC's correspondent Paul Wood and cameraman Fred Scott report from the rebel stronghold of Rastan
Meanwhile, in a letter to the Security Council, UN chief Ban
Ki-moon said the Syrian opposition controlled "significant parts of some
cities".He said that "established terrorist groups" could have been behind some of the recent bomb blasts in Syria judging from the sophistication of the attacks.
He said the situation remained "extremely serious" and urged states not to arm either side in the conflict.
Earlier this month, a bombing in Damascus left 55 dead in an attack which the government blamed on al-Qaeda. The attack came amid mounting fears that the terrorist group was taking advantage of the conflict to gain a foothold.
On Thursday, a UN-mandated panel said Syrian security forces were to blame for most abuses in the conflict, which has continued despite the presence of the UN observers.
Mr Annan's six-point peace agreement ordered a cessation of violence on 12 April. While casualties appeared to fall after the truce, the fighting quickly resumed to previous levels.
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