DAMASCUS, Syria, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Syrian intellectuals and human rights activists Wednesday urged their government to withdraw its 15,000 troops from Lebanon.
"We call on President Bashar Assad to implement Taif and take the initiative by pulling his military forces from Lebanon to avoid dangerous developments," said a statement signed by some 70 intellectuals, artists and human rights activists.
The statement faxed to the UPI office in Damascus said the Syrian leadership must withdraw from Lebanon in line with the Taif agreement, which ended Lebanese civil strife in 1989.
Also Wednesday, dozens of Syrian journalists staged a sit-in to express solidarity with Lebanon over the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The journalists, however, rejected Lebanese opposition accusations of Syrian involvement in Hariri's slaying.
"The sit-in is for solidarity with Lebanon over Hariri's killing and we want the implementation of the Taif agreement, but we refuse the reaction of the Lebanese opposition," said journalist Ghayath Sahloul.
