Syria must succeed; rights of women, minorities should be respected: US

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken during his official visit to the Middle East following the overthrow of the al-Assad regime, affirmed that the US wants Syria to 'succeed', the State Department said.

Blinken during his visit from December 11-14 travelled to Turkiye; and Iraq.

"Our message to the Syrian people is this: We want them to succeed and we are prepared to help them do so," US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said in a press briefing on Monday (local time).

He said that Secy Blinken discussed the principles that call for a "Syrian-led and Syrian-owned" transition which paves the way for an inclusive and representative government.

Miller also emphasised that the rights of everyone including women minorities must be protected,

"The Secretary returned this weekend from his latest trip to the Middle East, where he discussed the principles that he outlined early last week as essential for delivering on the aspirations of the Syrian people after the fall of the brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad," Miller said.

"Those principles include that the transition process should be Syrian-led and Syrian-owned and produce an inclusive and representative government; that the rights of all Syrians, including women and minorities, should be respected; that humanitarian aid should be able to reach people who need it; that Syria should not be used as a base of- for terrorist groups and should have peaceful relations with its neighbours; and that chemical weapons stockpiles should be secured and safely destroyed," he added.

The State Department spokesperson further said that the US will continue to engage with actors on the ground in Syria.

"In a joint statement issued after the meeting of foreign ministers that the Secretary attended in Aqaba, Jordan on Saturday, those principles were endorsed by a number of our partners in the region as well as a number of countries in Europe and the European Union. Over the coming days, we will continue to engage with actors on the ground in Syria about the importance of adherence to those principles as well as with our partners in the region and around the world about what they can do to advance those principles as well," Miller said.

Opposition forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched a strong offensive from the northwestern province of Idlib last month.

They reached Damascus in the early hours of December 8 and announced the end of more than 50 years of the al-Assad family's iron-fist rule over Syria.