U.S. Secretary of State Blinken to visit Jordan..."Syrian transition must be inclusive"

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, on a Middle East tour four days after Syrian rebels ousted the al-Assad regime and declared victory, has called for an inclusive transfer of power to the Syrian transitional government.

On the 12th, Blinken met with Jordanian King Abdullah II and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Sadabi in Aqaba, Jordan, to discuss the process of establishing the next Syrian government.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Blinken called for Syria's transition of power to be inclusive and non-sectarian, and for advocating and protecting the rights of all Syrians, including women and minorities.

He then said Syria should not be a terrorist or extremist base for groups such as Islamic State and ISIS, and that chemical weapons storage used by the Syrian government should be destroyed.

Blinken said the Syrian interim government was trying to get Travis Timmerman, an American who was missing during the al-Assad regime, back home.

Regarding the Israeli military's entry into a buffer zone in Syrian territory after the collapse of the al-Assad regime and its airstrikes in the capital Damascus and elsewhere, he said, "Everyone should try not to cause further conflict."

Following Jordan, Blinken headed to Turkiye, where he has been deeply involved in the Syrian situation, where he will meet with Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the situation in the Middle East.