UN to investigate Syria massacre

The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Syria this Friday to probe last Friday's massacre in the town of Houla, diplomats involved in planning the meeting in Geneva said on Wednesday. The United States, Qatar, Turkey and the European Union led the push for the special session, which will be the fourth time Syria has been hauled before the U.N. rights body since unrest broke out in the country early last year.

Earlier, a number of Western nations expelled Syrian diplomats in a coordinated move against President Bashar Assad's regime over the attack in Houla, which killed more than 100 people, including women and children.

In a statement on Tuesday, Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights called for a full investigation into the massacre: “Ideally this would be by the commission of inquiry on Syria which was set up specifically to look into human right violations in country. Once again we urge the Syrian government to grant the commissioners immediate and unfettered access to Syria. What is very clear is this was absolutely abominable event that took place in El Houleh and at least a substantial part of it was summary executions.”

Meanwhile, U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan met with Assad in Damascus on Tuesday to try to salvage what was left of a peace plan, which since being brokered six weeks ago has failed to stop any of the violence on the ground.

Listen to Christopher Wells' report: