Biden aides in Middle East in diplomatic push for Syria, Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met Jordan’s King Abdullah as President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration pushes for an inclusive transition in neighbouring Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

The top US diplomat is in the region to seek support and establish a unified approach for principles that Washington hopes will guide the political transition in Syria after the toppling of longtime ruler al-Assad.“It should be inclusive, non-sectarian,” Blinken told reporters on Thursday in Aqaba, Jordan, describing the criteria for the transition process. “It’s got to uphold and protect the rights of all Syrians, including minorities, including women,” he said, moments before departing for Ankara, Turkiye.

Blinken also said that the role of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) group was “critical” to preventing a resurgence of ISIS (ISIL) in Syria.

“At a time when we want to see this transition… to a better way forward for Syria, part of that also has to be ensuring that ISIS doesn’t rear its ugly head again,” Blinken noted.

“Critical to making sure that doesn’t happen are the so-called SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces,” he added.

Announcing the trip, the State Department said Blinken would call for a Syria that is not “a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbours” – a nod to the concerns of Israel and Turkiye.

Since al-Assad’s flight to Russia on Sunday, Israel has attacked Syria hundreds of times, hitting airports, air defence facilities and other infrastructure, and deploying its military to the buffer zone along the occupied Golan Heights separating Syria and Israel since 1974.

Turkiye, for its part, has funded Syrian rebel fighters – known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) – to battle the SDF, pushing the group out of the northeastern city of Manbij.