On the heels of a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan warned that the crisis was "at a tipping point" after the killings of more than 100 people last week in the town of Houla, now said to be carried out in door-to-door shootings.

"The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division," Annan told reporters in Damascus. "Yet the killings continue and the abuses are still with us today."

The peace plan he brokered earlier this year, which includes halting hostilities, was not being carried out, Annan stated.

Annan urged Assad to "be bold for the Syrian people" by halting all its military operations, freeing detainees and respecting the right to peaceful protest. "We all remember the violence stopped before, on the 12th of April; there was calm," he said. "There is no reason it cannot stop again."

While Annan pushed again for peace, the U.N. human rights office shared new details about the attack that left 108 people dead last week in Houla. Most of the victims were shot at close range, the office said. The rest -- fewer than 20 of the 108 victims -- were killed by artillery and tank fire.

Bloody images and chilling stories of the Friday attacks have renewed outrage worldwide over the continued slayings as the government tries to crush the ongoing uprising against Assad.