Assad and Wife Asma
Assad and Wife AsmaReuters

A Saudi scholar has offered a $450,000 reward for assassinating Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

"We announce a reward of $450,000 for whoever kills the assassin Bashar Al Assad, whose massacres of women and children have horrified the world," Ali Al Rabieei said on his Twitter account.

The death bounty was announced in response to the Houla massacre of at least 108 people – including 49 children and 34 women – were murdered.

Some were killed by artillery and tank fire but most were killed "execution style," according to a UN report that cited witnesses who said Assad-allied Shahiba militiamen were behind the house-to-house massacre.

Shabiha thugs are known to frequently work closely with soldiers and security forces, but the regime never acknowledges their existence – allowing it to deny responsibility for their actions.

Meanwhile, commanders with the Free Syrian Army – specifically citing the Houla massacre – gave Assad an ultimatum that if he did not honor the UN-brokered ceasefire by noon on Friday they would take "a series of decisive and courageous decisions for the next phase" of their struggle against Assad's forces.

Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, and the United States all ordered Syria’s diplomats to depart in protest of the massacre.