UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council has condemned the use of heavy weapons by Syria’s government during a massacre in which 108 people, including 34 children, were killed and 300 injured. The 15-member Council, meeting in an emergency session, said those responsible for the killings must be held accountable.Syria’s UN envoy condemned what he called a “tsunami of lies” being told by some members of the Council, saying Syrian forces were not to blame.The Security Council unanimously adopted the non-binding statement, which calls for the Syrian government to withdraw its heavy weaponry from residential areas and return them to barracks. “The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest possible terms the killings... in the village of (Houla), near Homs, in attacks that involved a series of government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighbourhood,” according to the statement read by Azerbaijan’s deputy UN ambassador Tofig Musayev.“The members of the Security Council also condemned the killing of civilians by shooting at close range and by severe physical abuse,” the statement continued.“Such outrageous use of force against civilian population constitutes a violation of applicable international law.”Going into the meeting, Russia, an ally of Syria, made it clear that his government needed to be convinced of the Syrian government’s culpability for what had happened at Houla. Analysts noted that Russia appears to have been persuaded.The language both at the UN and from the administration in Washington is very strong. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that President Assad’s rule by murder and fear must come to an end.But diplomats stress that a political process is the best hope for progress.Jaafari, the Syrian ambassador, said some members of the council were trying to mislead the world about Syria’s role in the massacre.“Neither [UN observer mission head Maj. Gen. Robert] Mood nor anybody else told the Security Council in the informal session that he would blame the Syrian government forces for what happened.“It is really pitiful and regrettable that some members of the council came out just a few minutes after Gen. Mood had finished his briefing to mislead you, to tell you lies about what happened,” he said.On a video link from Damascus, Gen Mood told the Security Council that 108 people had been killed and 300 injured in Houla - up from a previous figure of at least 90 dead.He was initially quoted as saying the new figure was 116 dead, but this was later corrected by diplomats.Gen Mood told the BBC that “the circumstances leading to the killing are still unclear” but were being investigated by UN monitors in Houla.“I have had patrols on the ground all the day yesterday afternoon and today we are gathering facts on the ground and then we will draw our own conclusions,” he said.Opposition activists claim the Syrian military bombarded Houla after demonstrations. But the Syrian government has denied any involvement, blaming “terrorists”, and denied that its tanks were in the area at the time.Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations told journalists that it was not clear who was responsible for the deaths - and denied charges that most of the deaths were caused by army shelling.“There are substantial grounds to believe that the majority of those who were killed were either slashed, cut by knives, or executed at point-blank distance,” he said.