Turkish PM says Assad will "pay a very, very heavy price" after mass killings over weekend in Syrian towns of Banias, Baida.
By REUTERSturkish PM Erdogan 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Stringer)Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday reacted angrily to the massacre of at least 62 people in Syria overnight Friday in the coastal town of Banias, calling Syrian President Bashar Assad a "murderer" and vowing that he would pay for his crimes.“If God permits, we will see this criminal, this murderer, receive his judgment in this world, and we will be grateful to [God] for it,” Turkish daily Hurriyet quoted Erdogan as saying."Hear me, Bashar Assad. You will give an account for this. You will pay a very, very heavy price for [only] showing the courage you cannot show others to the babies in the cradle with soothers in their mouths. God willing, the lamentations of these children will fall upon you as blessed revenge,” he added.“For our Syrian brothers who are asking when God’s help will come, I want to say: God’s help is near,” Erdogan stated, according to Hurriyet.The killings in Banias took place two days after state forces and pro-Assad militias killed at least 50 Sunnis in the nearby village of Baida. Activists said the Baida death toll was likely to rise to over 100 and possibly 200.Click for full JPost coverage
