US Defense 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 ISIL terrorist 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 terrorists who have surrendered, deserted or been wounded — showed that “the whole bottom was dropping out” of ISIL.

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.”

Source: AFP