The two-pronged diplomatic push will see Blinken address Jordan and Turkiye, while Sullivan will hold talks in Israel, Qatar and Egypt.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jordan to begin a tour of the Middle East crisis following the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The outgoing US diplomat, who is calling for an ‘inclusive’ process to form Syria’s next government that protects minorities, landed in the Red Sea city of Aqaba on Thursday and headed straight for talks with King Abdullah II and later visited Turkiye. . per day.
Blinken’s visit comes just days after rebels launched a blitz of attacks led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group previously affiliated with al-Qaeda, ending 50 years of brutal rule by the al-Assad family. It has been done.
In announcing the trip, the State Department said Blinken would call for Syria not to be a “terrorist base or a base that poses a threat to neighboring countries.” This is a nod to Israel’s and Turkiye’s concerns.
Since al-Assad fled to Russia on Sunday, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria, hitting airports, air defenses and other infrastructure and deploying troops in a buffer zone along the occupied Golan Heights that separates Syria and Israel since 1974. .
Turkiye funded Syrian rebel fighters, known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), to fight the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), driving the group out of the northeastern city of Manbij.
Ankara considers the SDF, which has carved out an autonomous territory in the east, a “terrorist” group and wants to reduce its presence near its borders.
Blinken’s diplomatic push on Syria comes as leaders of the Group of Seven major democracies issued a statement emphasizing that al-Assad must be held accountable for his crimes.
Shaping Biden’s Legacy
Concurrent with Blinken’s trip, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is scheduled to meet Israeli leaders in Jerusalem on Thursday and then visit Qatar and Egypt.
Blinken and Sullivan will both seek to make progress toward a deal to end the 14-month war in Gaza and release remaining prisoners held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Biden administration hopes the recent ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, combined with the removal of Tehran’s ally al-Assad, could help build momentum toward a Gaza deal after months of failed diplomacy. I’m hoping.
The high-level tour could help shape Biden’s legacy in the Middle East during former President Donald Trump’s final weeks in office before he returns to the White House on January 20.
But it’s unclear whether Biden has enough influence in the region to get a major deal done before he leaves office.
Hamas wants the war to end before the prisoners are released, but Netanyahu has insisted he has the right to carry out military operations. Israel also does not want Hamas to rule the Gaza Strip.
President Trump warned last week that the Middle East “will pay a hellish price” if detainees held in the Gaza Strip are not released before his inauguration in January.
On Tuesday, White House national security press secretary John Kirby pressed for a deal, saying Hamas was “increasingly isolated” and needed to realize “the cavalry is not coming to rescue them.”
