U.S. envoy says Syria trip not tied to Geneva peace talks

ROME (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy to the coalition against Islamic State said on Monday his weekend trip to Kurdish-controlled northern Syria was not tied to peace talks in Geneva. "It was long planned, so it was not tied to the process going on in Geneva in any way," Brett McGurk told a small group of reporters in Rome. McGurk said the purpose of his trip, the first by a U.S. official to Syrian territory in several years, was to assess the state of the counter-Islamic State campaign in Syria, adding that there had been questions about the Geneva peace talks. "Of course, there were questions about that process and we repeated what is in (U.N.) Security Council resolution 2254 about the need for a unified Syria, a multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian Syria where the rights of all components are protected, and, of course, an inclusive process." (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed, writing by Isla Binnie)