US continues supporting militants in Syria: Kerry

The United States has reiterated its “continued” and “growing” support for militants fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

At a joint press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in Jordan’s capital Amman on Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Washington would continue backing the militants “to permit them to continue to fight.”

Also on Thursday, in a communiqué issued after a meeting of the so-called Friends of Syria in Amman, the alliance said it would “further increase their support for the opposition and take all other steps as necessary.”

The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

Damascus says the West and its regional allies, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are supporting the militants.

In an interview recently broadcast on Turkish television, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that if the militants take power in Syria, they could destabilize the entire Middle East region for decades.

“If the unrest in Syria leads to the partitioning of the country, or if the terrorist forces take control… the situation will inevitably spill over into neighboring countries and create a domino effect throughout the Middle East and beyond,” he stated.