Syrian opposition calls on Assad to end crackdown

Dozens of Syrian opposition members called on President Bashar Assad Sunday to end his deadly six-month crackdown or face an escalation in peaceful protests, as security forces fired warning shots to disperse high school students calling for the regimes downfall.The weekend meeting drew more than 200 opposition figures, including leading writer Michel Kilo and Hassan Abdul-Azim, who heads the outlawed Arab Socialist Democratic Union party. It was also notable because it took place inside Syria, rather than in a neighboring country, as most others have.A statement released after the meeting called on Assads regime to immediately end its acts of repression, and it urged protesters to keep their movement peaceful and not be tempted to take up arms. The opposition members also stuck by an earlier position to oppose international intervention in Syria, though some protesters on the streets have called for unspecified outside help.The Syrian uprising began in mid-March, amid the wave of protests in the Arab world that have toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Assad has responded with force in a crackdown that the U.N. estimates has killed some 2,600 people.