US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday that he supported a diplomatic solution for the Syria conflict, as America and its partners look beyond the defeat of the Islamic State group in the war-torn nation.

 

Speaking to reporters ahead of his arrival for talks in Finland on Monday, Mattis said intelligence assessments -- based primarily on the numbers of jihadists who have surrendered, deserted or been wounded -- showed that "the whole bottom was dropping out" of IS.

He said he supported a UN-backed effort in Geneva, which has run in parallel to a Russian and Iranian-led process, to reach a diplomatic solution.

"Basically, we are trying to get this into the diplomatic mode so we can sort this out and make certain that minorities, whoever they are, are not subject to what we've seen" under the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Source: AFP