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US diplomats arrived in Damascus on Friday to meet with Syria's new transitional government amid growing engagement from the international community.

The delegation will meet representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) even though the US still lists the group as a terrorist organisation.

The US State Department said in a statement that the delegation "will be engaging directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can support them".

The delegation consists of Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf, hostage envoy Roger Carstens, and senior advisor in the Bureau of Near East Affairs Daniel Rubinstein.

It comes after several countries reopened their embassies in Damascus, including France, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

As international pressure mounts for an inclusive and non-sectarian transition, Syrians protested on Thursday calling for a secular democratic state with the inclusion of women.

The protest came after comments by Obeida Arnaout, a spokesperson for the new transitional authorities, gave an interview to Lebanon's Al-Jadeed TV where he said that women's "biological and psychological nature" meant that they were unsuited to some government positions, such as minister of defence.

Meanwhile, Syria's Baniyas oil refinery, the largest in the country, has stopped operations following the end of Iranian oil shipments.

The refinery, which processes between 90,000 and 100,000 barrels of oil per day, is a key provider of fuel for Syria's domestic consumption.

Syria's own oil production accounts for only 10 percent of its oil needs, with the remaining 90 percent comes from Iran.

It comes as the country faces numerous crises following the fall of the Assad regime, although many began when the regime was still in power, including a shortage of electricity and rampant inflation.

In northern Syria, two Kurdish journalists, Nazim Dastan and Cihan Bilgin, were killed in an attack near the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates, according to the Dicle First Journalists' Association.

A number of outlets - including the Turkish Journalists Union - reported that their car was struck by a Turkish drone.

The journalists were covering ongoing fighting between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), which saw the capture of Manbij by the SNA last week.