U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Israel this week after completing a frantic six-country rush through Arab nations aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from igniting a broader regional conflict.
The U.S. State Department announced Blinken’s plan to travel Monday to Israel — his second visit in five days — as America's top diplomat arrived in Cairo for talks Sunday with Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. It was the last of Blinken's meetings with Arab leaders amid increasing fears that an impending Israeli ground offensive into Gaza could spark a wider war with devastating humanitarian consequences.
Blinken began the whirlwind trip on Thursday in Israel, pledging support and solidarity for the country as it responds to last week’s Hamas surprise attacks. Blinken also spoke by phone with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to seek Beijing’s support in discouraging others from getting involved. He said the U.S. was not “not interfering in their military planning or trying to give them instructions or requests specific.” Sullivan said the U.S. is conveying the message in public and in private that “all military operations should be conducted consistent with law of war, that civilians should be protected, that civilians should have a real opportunity to get to safety” and have access to food, water, medicine and shelter.
Underscoring fears of a wider conflict, the U.S. military has positioned an aircraft carrier battle group in the Eastern Mediterranean and on Saturday announced the deployment of a second one. The naval presence is intended to serve as a deterrent to other countries and groups, like Iran and Syria and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, not to enter the conflict.
In his roughly hourlong meeting with Prince Mohammed at the de facto Saudi leader’s private farm outside Riyadh, Blinken “highlighted the United States’ unwavering focus on halting terrorist attacks by Hamas, securing the release of all hostages, and preventing the conflict from spreading,” the State Department said.
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