ANKARA 

Syria's Bashar al-Assad and regime elements will pay a heavy price for their attack on Turkish troops in northwestern Idlib, Turkey’s vice president said Friday. 

“Head of the terror state Assad, who will go down in history as a war criminal, and regime elements will pay a heavy price for this treacherous attack,” Fuat Oktay said in a written statement on the attack, in which 33 Turkish soldiers were martyred late Thursday.

Oktay wished Allah’s mercy on the martyred and a speedy recovery to the wounded.

At least 33 Turkish troops were killed in the airstrike while tens of others were injured, according to Governor Rahmi Dogan of Hatay province in southern Turkey.

Ankara has vowed to retaliate against the “illegitimate” Syrian regime in the wake of the attack.

*Writing by Sena Guler