The United States was pushing Thursday for an "inclusive" transition in Syria from president Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule, after the country's new leaders pledged to protect minority rights.

Assad fled Syria after a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies, which brought a sudden end to five decades of abuses by the Assad clan.

Syrians across the country and around the world erupted in celebration after enduring an era during which suspected dissidents were jailed or killed, and nearly 14 years of war that killed 500,000 people and displaced millions.

"We were living in oppression, we were unable to speak," Ibtissam Kaab, a resident of Assad's hometown Qardaha, told AFP.

"Whenever we wanted to speak, they threatened to harm us and our children."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Jordan on Thursday to kick off a crisis tour to address the aftermath of Assad's overthrow, heading straight to a meeting in the Red Sea city of Aqaba with King Abdullah II.

Blinken has called for an "inclusive" process to form Syria's next government that includes protections for minorities.

The State Department also said he would call for a Syria that is not "a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbours".

Blinken's visit to Jordan is his first stop on a regional tour that will........

© International Business Times