Assad Pledges to Destroy Oppression, Blasphemy of Sheikh Al-Bouti Killers

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad condemned the assassination of Sheikh Mohammad Saeed Al-Bouti, who was martyred on Thursday in a suicide attack inside Al-Iman mosque in Damascus. Assad pledged that he will "destroy their (Sheikh Al-Bouti's killers) oppression and blasphemy until we cleanse our country from them." In a statement he issued, Assad said: "I console myself and the Syrian people for the martyrdom of Mr. Mohammad Saeed Al-Bouti, one of the high figured of Syria and the Islamic world." "They killed you because they thought they could silence the voice of Islam, and the brightness of faith (Al-Iman) in Damascus. They killed you o Sheikh because you raised the voice against their oppressive, Takfiri thought, which aims at destroying the concept of our tolerant religion," he added. The Syrian president further stated: "A promise from the Syrian people, and I am one of them, you, your grandson, and all the martyrs' blood will not be in vein, because we will adhere to your thought on destroying their oppression and Takfir, until we cleanse our country from them."