Blinken to meet Europeans on Syria pathway

BSS
Published On: 06 Jan 2025, 10:30

SEOUL, Jan 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet his European counterparts Thursday in Rome on Syria, as the West looks to engage the new Islamist-led leadership.

Blinken will "meet with European counterparts to advocate for a peaceful, inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition", a State Department statement said as he visited Seoul on Monday.

The State Department did not immediately specify the participants.

Blinken, on a trip that will also take him to Japan and France, will later join President Joe Biden as he pays a farewell visit to Rome that includes an audience with Pope Francis.

Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive last month after 13 years of brutal war.

Western powers have since been cautiously hoping for greater stability in Syria, a decade after the war triggered a major refugee crisis that shook up European politics.

The French and German foreign ministers on Friday visited Syria, although the trip was overshadowed when new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa shook the hand only of France's Jean-Noel Barrot, a man, and not Germany's Annalena Baerbock, a woman.

Senior US diplomat Barbara Leaf met Sharaa last month and said that the United States was lifting a bounty that has been on its head.

She also welcomed "positive messages" he has made, including on protection of minorities, and said he had promised that Syria would not pose a threat to neighbouring countries, as Israel pounds Syrian military sites.

 

 

  • Latest
  • Most Viewed
Deer hunter arrested with 106 kg of meat in Sundarbans
Noshin takes solo lead in Nat'l Women's Chess Championship
Political parties united on structural reform to prevent authoritarian revival: Akhter 
Judiciary's separate secretariat at final stage: SC Registrar General
Govt is amending Post Office Act, 1898: Faiz Ahmad 
Children Act 2013 should be amended to protect children: Sharmin
Railway General Hospital opens for public in Rajshahi
UN chief asks Security Council to spend resources in peace instead of war
Trump heads to Asia for Xi talks, eyes Kim meeting
Trump to meet Qatar leaders on way to Asia
১০