Article content

[np_storybar title=”John Kerry heading to Middle East” link=””]

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to the Middle East this weekend to discuss Iraq’s stability as a raging Sunni Muslim insurgency threatens the Shiite-led government.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or ISIS seizes Syrian town near Iraqi border after Western-backed rebels defect to jihadi group Back to video

The U.S. is offering limited assistance to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki but wants him to take dramatic steps to soothe Sunnis who say they have been shut out from his government.

The State Department said Friday Kerry will meet next week with officials in Amman, Jordan, on the border with Iraq. Officials had said that Kerry planned to visit Iraq soon but did not say when.

Kerry will also travel to Paris to meet with officials from Arab Gulf nations to discuss Iraq and Syria. And he will stop in Brussels for a NATO ministerial meeting. His trip is scheduled from June 22-27.

The Associated Press

[/np_storybar]

A powerful truck bomb exploded on Friday in a government-held village in central Syria, killing at least 34 civilians and wounding more than 50, as an Al-Qaeda breakaway group captured a major town to the east, near the Iraqi border, activists said.