CAIRO - Libyan Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced its decision to expel Syria's charge d'affaires and his staff, adding that it expects all Syrian diplomats to leave the country within the next 72 hours, Xinhua's correspondent in Tripoli reported.

The Foreign Ministry also said Libyan's National Transitional Council now stands in solidarity with the Syrian National Council, an umbrella opposition group, and voiced its condemnation against the unabated bloodshed plaguing Syria.

Libya joined Tunisia, another nation in the region, in its move on Saturday to demand the departure of Syria's diplomats to protest the Syrian government's handling of the unrest in the country.

Since March 2011, Syria has been gripped by turmoil in which confrontation between the government forces and armed groups took a heavy toll on civilians' lives.

The Syrian government said more than 2,000 army and security personnel have been killed during the months-long unrest, while the United Nations put the death toll in the country at more than 5,400.