Blinken meets Iraq PM to discuss Syria future, fight against ISIL
Al Jazeera
US secretary of state visits the Middle East after Bashar al-Assad’s government collapses.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for talks on the future of neighbouring Syria during an unannounced visit to Baghdad.
Blinken visited the US embassy in the Iraqi capital on Friday on the final stop of his tour of the Middle East following the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria.
Blinken and al-Sudani discussed “the conviction of so many countries in the region and beyond that as Syria transitions from the Assad dictatorship to hopefully a democracy, it does so in a way that, of course, protects all of the minorities in Syria, that produces an inclusive, nonsectarian government”, Blinken said, adding that Syria should not become a “platform for terrorism”.
