Japan, Turkey Tell Syrian Diplomats to Leave

Japan and Turkey lined up on Wednesday with many of their Western allies who have kicked out Syrian diplomats as international outrage grows over brutal mass slayings blamed on the government in Damascus.

Japan has told the Syrian ambassador in Tokyo to leave the country, the foreign ministry said.

The Japanese government asked Mohammed Ghassan al-Habash to depart "as soon as possible," an official told Agence France Presse.

"This is an action to show Japan's protest to Syria over not only the violence, but also the latest intense violation of human rights" the official said.

"The Japanese government made this move in coordination with other states," he said.

Turkey also ordered all Syria's diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours, the foreign ministry said.

"As the host country, it has been demanded... that Syria's charge d'affaires in Ankara and all other diplomatic personnel leave our country within 72 hours as of May 30, 2012," the ministry said in a statement.

"It is out of the question for us to remain silent and not respond to this action which constitutes a crime against humanity."

Syria's charge d'affaires was summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday and notified of the government decision, the statement added.

On Tuesday, Western powers including the United States, Britain, France and Australia all kicked out the highest ranking Syrian diplomats in their countries in a bid to increase pressure on President Bashar Assad's regime.

The coordinated expulsions followed mounting international outrage over the massacre in the central town of Houla, in which at least 108 people, including 49 children, were killed, according to U.N. figures.

Turkey, once a strong ally of Syria, broke with Damascus after Bashar Assad's regime began cracking down on dissent in mid-March last year.