US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to the Middle East. His fourth trip since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Avoid at all costs the extension of the conflict, in Lebanon in particular, reason with Israel while activating the levers of American diplomacy: back in the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will once again have to play balancing act in the conflict murderer who opposes Israel and Hamas.
The American envoy has been in the region since Thursday evening: he is visiting Israel, but also five Arab countries (Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia) as well as the occupied West Bank, Turkey and Greece.
Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department: The secretary believes that we must try to make progress in obtaining humanitarian access and…minimizing the harm to Palestinian civilians and believes that we must make progress in continuing to try to prevent the conflict from escalating .”
This visit comes in an increasingly tense context after in particular the death of Hamas number 2, killed this Tuesday in Lebanon by an Israeli drone. An attack not claimed by the Jewish state.
Without forgetting the double attack that occurred on Wednesday in Iran which left around a hundred dead.
While the fighting still rages in the Gaza Strip, all eyes are also on the Red Sea. A new zone of conflict between the Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, and the international community. Several ships have been attacked in recent weeks forcing international carriers to divert from this maritime route around Africa.
But experts remain skeptical about a possible ceasefire. If Washington will continue to put pressure on the Israeli government to obtain truces and limit the bombings on Gaza, the United States is not demanding an end to the fighting strictly speaking.
The question is to what extent could Washington twist Benjamin Netanyahu’s arm eleven months before the American presidential election?
