By Huseyin Hayatsever and Simon Lewis (JO:LEWJ)
ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Turkey on Thursday for talks focused on a critical aspect of establishing stability in Syria: clashes in the north of the country between U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and Turkey-backed rebels.
Blinken is due in Ankara on Thursday after visiting Jordan on his first trip to the region after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government was ousted on Sunday. He was due to hold talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday.
NATO allies Washington and Ankara supported Syrian rebels during the 13-year-long civil war, but their interests notably clashed when it came to one of the rebel factions - the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF is the main ally in a U.S. coalition against Islamic State militants. It is spearheaded by the People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants that it outlaws and that have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.
The U.S. State Department said Blinken would discuss Syria and "ongoing bilateral cooperation" on counterterrorism and regional stability in his meetings with Turkish officials.
A Turkish official said Syria would top the agenda of Blinken's talks with Fidan, adding Turkey is ready to support Syria as a safe and stable place governed by an inclusive government. But Fidan would also emphasize Turkey's sensitivities in the north, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Earlier this week Turkey-backed forces seized the northern city of Manbij from the U.S.-backed SDF, which then headed east of the Euphrates River. A Syrian opposition source told Reuters the U.S. and Turkey had reached an agreement on the withdrawal.
A Turkish defence ministry official said on Thursday the Turkey-backed group's advance aimed to "clear terrorism".
The official warned about unspecified efforts to provide cover for the PKK by flagging risks related to Islamic State, adding that Ankara has told Washington that one terrorist group cannot be used to eliminate another.
Blinken said on Monday that Islamic State will try to use this period to re-establish capabilities in Syria, but the United States is determined not to let that happen.
Some of the SDF fighters also withdrew from Tel Refaat and parts of Aleppo to the west in the early days of the lightning rebel offensive that swept south across the country.
Turkey also directly targeted the YPG in recent days with its intelligence agency destroying 12 trucks loaded with missiles and heavy weapons in northeast Syria.