Blinken Meeting Arab Ministers Amid Uncertainty Over Syria Transition

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was meeting on Saturday with Arab leaders in Jordan to discuss how to assist a political transition in Syria, nearly a week after rebels toppled the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad.

The abrupt demise of the Assad government has prompted celebrations in Syria along with uncertainty over how the new administration under a caretaker prime minister, Mohammed al-Bashir, can manage a transition in a country shattered by decades of war and repression.

It is a new upheaval in a region already reeling from more than a year of war and has set in motion a realignment with implications for Israel, Iran and Lebanon, as well as Russia, a stalwart ally of Mr. al-Assad.

Mr. Blinken was expected to meet in the coastal city of Aqaba with foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt, as well as the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, according to a statement by Jordan’s Foreign Ministry. Turkey, the United Nations and the European Union would also participate.

“The talks will focus on supporting a comprehensive, Syria-led political process aimed at achieving a transitional solution,” the Jordanian statement said. A later statement on Saturday said the meeting was about to begin. It made no mention of any Syrian representative to attend.

Turkey has emerged in recent days with greater influence, given its years of support for the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebel group that led the offensive out of its bases in the northwest in recent weeks to take power.

The Turkish government made plans this week to reopen its embassy in Damascus, which has been closed for almost 13 years, and it also conducted military operations, including airstrikes, in northern Syria against Kurdish militants whom it considers a threat.

On Friday, the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, issued a stark warning to members of the Kurdish militia that controls northeastern Syria, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG.

The Kurdish-led forces in Syria have been key partners with the United States in the fight against the terrorist group Islamic State in Syria. The U.S. and Turkey are NATO allies.

Turkey, at the same time, has funded and trained a Syrian rebel force, the Syrian National Army, which provided security for Turkish military bases in northern Syria and helped it fight Kurdish-led forces in the country.

The commander of Syria’s largest Kurdish militia accused the United States this week of abandoning its Kurdish allies in Syria.

Mr. Blinken is in Jordan as part of a tour of the Middle East that has included stops in the Turkish capital, Ankara, and the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, as the United States assesses the fallout from Mr. al-Bashar’s ouster.

American officials have expressed concern that instability across Syria, where various armed groups with competing agendas are active, could threaten its neighbors.

The outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011 helped to fuel the rise of Islamic State, which conquered large swaths of Syria and Iraq and took years to defeat.

Israel has also seized an opportunity created by the collapse of the Assad dynasty, bombing weapons stores and other targets in Syria to eliminate what it says are potential threats and also seizing territory in the country near the disputed Golan Heights.

Syria on Friday condemned Israel’s attack and called on the United Nations Security Council to compel the Israeli government to cease any further attacks.

Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Koussay Aldahhak, said the Security Council should “compel Israel to respect international law,” and not allow it to benefit from Syria’s transition.

The U.S. Central Command said on Saturday that Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the U.S. military commander in the Middle East, had talks in Israel this week with Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military chief of staff, on the situation in Syria and the region.

Safak Timur and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting.