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 today.

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

"The Damascus regime has committed new massacres," Fabius charged.

"In Houla dozens of civilians included children died in army bombardments.

"I condemn the atrocities committed daily by Bashar al-Assad on his own people. With these new crimes his murderous regime plunges Syria further into horror and thretens regional stability."

Fabius said that UN observers should complete their deployment in line with the peace plan of United Nations and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

Saying he would be speaking to Annan, Fabius added, "In the face of horror, the international community must mobilise still further to stop the martyrdom of the Syrian people."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops of Assad's regime had killed more than 90 people, including 25 children, in shelling Houla, in the central province of Homs.

The opposition Syrian National Council put the toll at more than 110, and urged the UN Security Council to act.