US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey on Friday to begin his fourth trip to the Middle East crisis since the war between Israel and Hamas began three months ago.
The top US diplomat will visit Israel, the Palestinian Authority on the western bank of the Jordan River and five Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
Blinken will hold talks Saturday in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the Muslim world’s most vocal critics of American support for Israel.
“We don’t expect all conversations on this trip to be easy. There are obviously difficult questions and difficult choices ahead of the region,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
“However, the minister believes it is the responsibility of the United States to lead diplomatic efforts to address these challenges,” he said.
Blinken has used previous trips to stop the spread of war. But he is returning to a region that has seen recent attacks in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Iran.
A Hamas deputy leader was killed Tuesday in an attack in Lebanon believed to be organized by Israel. Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired on ships in the Red Sea, allegedly in solidarity with Gaza.
On Wednesday, Iran was hit by one of the bloodiest attacks since the 1979 Islamic revolution: at least 84 people were killed in two explosions that occurred to commemorate the killing of a Revolutionary Guard general.
Tehran initially blamed Israel and the United States, although the Islamic State (IS) terrorist network later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Blinken will also make a brief visit Saturday to Greece, which is nervous about the planned U.S. sale of advanced F-16 fighter jets to its arch-rival Turkey.
The Biden administration is ready to offer these planes, it seems, if Turkey approves Sweden’s membership in NATO.
NATO requires consensus and Erdogan has used his influence to demand concessions.
The Turkish parliament continues the ratification process.
2024-01-05 17:43:00
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