ROME: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Rome on Thursday for talks with European counterparts on bringing stability to Syria in the face of Turkish threats against Kurdish forces there.

It is the final stage in what is likely his last tour in the role before US President Joe Biden makes way for President-elect Donald Trump later this month.

Blinken, on a trip that has taken him to South Korea, Japan and France, will dine in Rome with counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

Already in Paris on Wednesday, Blinken said the United States was united with the Europeans on seeking a peaceful, stable Syria, a month after religiously-led fighters toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

But concerns have mounted over Turkiye`s threats against Syrian Kurdish fighters, who have effectively run their own state during the brutal civil war engulfing Syria.

A war monitor said that battles between Turkishbacked groups supported by air strikes and Kurdish-led forces had killed 37 people on Thursday.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have worked with the United States on Washington`s main stated priority battling the militant Islamic State group. Turkiye however says the SDF has links with PKK militants at home.

In Paris, Blinken acknowledged that Turkiye had `legitimate concerns` and that the SDF should gradually be integrated into a revamped national army, with foreign fighters removed.

`That`s a process that`s going to take some time,` he told reporters. `And in the meantime, what is profoundly not in the interest of everything positive we see happening in Syria would be a conflict. `We`ll work very hard to make sure that that doesn`t happen.

The sanctions question Blinken said he expected no change on goals in Syria from Trump, who takes over on Jan 20. During his last term, Trump briefly said he would accede to a request by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pull out US troops working in Syria with the Kurdish forces.

He backed down after counter-appeals led by French President Emmanuel Macron. The foreign ministers in Rome will also discuss whether to ease sanctions on Syria and if so, when.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesdaythat some sanctions `couldbeliftedquickly`.

The US Treasury Department said this week it would ease enforcement on restrictions affecting essential services. But US officials say they will wait to see progress before any wider easing of sanctions.

The outgoing Biden administration is unlikely, in its final days, to accept the political costs of removing Syria`s victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters from the US `terrorism` blacklist.

While Western powers are largely in synch on Syria, some differences remain. Blinken reiterated US calls on European countries to repatriate citizens of theirs detained in Syria for working with the IS and languishing in vast camps run by the Kurdish fighters.

France and Britain, with painful memories of attacks by IS, have little desire to bring militants back.-AFP