WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The United States does not want to see "fragmentation and destruction" of the state institutions in Syria's protracted conflict, Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday.
"The longer the bloodshed goes on, the greater the prospect that the institutions of the state of Syria implode, and therefore, the greater the danger is to the region and the world that chemical weapons fall into the hands of really bad actors," the top American envoy told reporters after meeting with his Australian counterpart Bob Carr at the State Department.
"We do not want that to happen, we also don't want the fragmentation and destruction of the state," Kerry said, adding the state institutions "are critical to the stability of the state, to its future and the region."
He reaffirmed Washington's support for weapons delivery to the Syrian rebels fighting the government troops by any foreign country in an effort to change the "calculation" of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Washington and its allies have been pushing for al-Assad's departure for a political transition in his country, mired in a conflict that has entered its third year with more than 70,000 deaths already counted.
The Obama administration has ruled out arming the rebels for now, but Kerry pledged in late February direct non-lethal aid to them.
President Barack Obama will head to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan on Tuesday night for a three-day visit, with the Syrian crisis, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Iran's nuclear program expected to top his agenda.
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