Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Saturday met with Arab ministers 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 Arab countries called for an end to hostilities in Syria and said they would support the transitional government there, according to a statement from Jordan’s Foreign Ministry.
The abrupt demise of the Assad government in Syria has prompted celebrations along with uncertainty over how the new interim administration there can manage a transition in a country shattered by 13 years of civil war and decades of repression.
It is another upheaval in a region already reeling from more than a year of war and has set in motion a realignment with implications for Turkey, Israel, Iran and Lebanon. It also affects the Russian government, which has given refuge to Mr. al-Assad and was a stalwart ally of his.
Mr. Blinken met in the coastal city of Aqaba with foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt, as well as the caretaker prime minister of Lebanon and 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 also participated, but representatives of Syria’s new leadership did not attend.
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-Assad’s ouster.
The statements emerging from the meeting in Aqaba were only the latest signs of how rapidly the situation in Syria has affected the region. Just weeks ago, Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had tried to bring Mr. al-Assad back into their fold after a rupture in relations over brutal treatment of his own people.
Days before Mr. al-Assad fell, top officials from Arab states, as well as from Turkey, Russia and Iran, met to try to contain the revolt.
In recent days, Turkey has emerged with greater influence in Syria, given its support of the offensive led by the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which overthrew Mr. al-Assad. Some Syrian rebel factions backed by Turkey joined forces with the group in the assault.
The Turkish government made plans this week to reopen its embassy in Damascus, Syria’s capital, which has been closed for almost 13 years. 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.
“It is our strategic target to eliminate the YPG,” he said in an interview with the Turkish broadcaster NTV. He said any members who were not Syrian should leave the country as soon as possible, and added: “The entire command level of YPG should leave the country too. The remaining ones should continue living as they lay down their weapons.”
The Kurdish-led forces in Syria have been important partners with the United States in the fight there against the Islamic State terrorist group. The United States 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 past week of abandoning its Kurdish allies in Syria.
Turkish officials told Mr. Blinken in Ankara that they shared Washington’s concern about the potential for an Islamic State comeback, according to a senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. But they also reiterated their right to attack Syrian Kurds.
U.S. officials agree that Turkey has some legitimate security concerns when it comes to the Kurds, the U.S. official said, adding that Turkey also claimed to see threats from the Syria-based fighters that are not supported by American intelligence.
Of particular concern to the United States is the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, which Turkey has attacked in the past. America is watching events there closely, the U.S. official said.
During his stop on Friday in Baghdad, Mr. Blinken stressed to the Iraqi prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, that Iraq should be vigilant about any Iranian attempt to funnel weapons through the country to pro-Iranian militias within Syria who might use them for attacks there.
In response, Mr. Sudani told Mr. Blinken that Iraq was determined not to be dragged into any fights outside its borders, the official said.
In another ripple effect of the rebel takeover in Syria, Russian forces appeared on Friday to be packing up some military equipment at an important air base near the Syrian port city of Latakia in a possible prelude to a broader withdrawal.
The Hmeimim base is a critical part of Moscow’s military foothold in the region. But the upheaval in the country has left the prospects for a continuing Russian military presence in Syria unclear for now.
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 U.N. 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.
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