Aqaba, Jordan - The US has made "direct contact" with Syria's victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels despite having designated the group as terrorists, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday.

"We've been in contact with HTS and with other parties," Blinken told reporters after talks on Syria in the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba.

He did not give further details, but when asked if the US reached out directly, he confirmed: "Direct contact – yes."

The US and other Western governments classify HTS as a terrorist group due to its roots in Al-Qaeda's Syria branch.

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The designation severely impedes activities of businesses and aid workers who risk falling foul of US law enforcement if they are considered to be directly supporting a terrorist group.

Blinken said that the contact was partly related to the search for Austin Tice, the US journalist who was kidnapped in 2012 near the start of the brutal civil war.

"We have pressed upon everyone we've been in contact with the importance of helping find Austin Tice and bringing him home," Blinken said.

Blinken closed a regional tour in which he has sought common ground after HTS overthrew Bashar al-Assad, whose family ruled for half a century.

In Aqaba, Blinken took part in talks that brought together top Arab and European diplomats as well as Turkey, which backs some rebel groups in Syria.

Blinken said the talks would issue a joint statement in which "we agreed that the transition process should be Syrian-led and Syrian-owned and produce an inclusive and representative government."

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"The rights of all Syrians, including minorities and women, should be respected. Humanitarian aid should be able to reach people who need it," Blinken said.

Blinken said that the talks also agreed that "state institutions" should continue to deliver essential services.

UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen earlier told Blinken: "We need to make sure that state institutions do not collapse, and that we get in humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible."

Blinken said the talks also agreed that chemical weapons stockpiles should be destroyed and that Syria should have "peaceful relations with its neighbors" – even as US-backed Israel has been ravaging the country with daily airstrikes and seizing its territory amid the chaos.