The head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinkensaid this Saturday that he wants “make sure” that the conflict in Loop “don’t spread” in the rest of middle Eastduring the first stage of his new tour of the region.
“We must ensure that the conflict does not spread“, he stated after meeting in the town of Chaniaon the island of Crete (Greece), with the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
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The Secretary of State defended that “with all our allies” to talk to “about the measures that can be taken to influence” to prevent regional spread.
“One of our real concerns is the border between Israel and Lebanon and we want to do everything possible to ensure that there is no escalation“he added, after a day marked by missile exchanges on the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Blinken, who started in Türkiye and Greece his new tour middle Eastwill also travel to Jordan, Israel, West Bank occupied and other countries in the region to avoid a regional escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas.
The head of American diplomacy met with Mitsotakis at the private residence of the head of the Greek government in Crete, where they spoke about the Gaza war and “the modernization of the Greek armed forces“, according to the head of Greek diplomacy, Giorgos Gerapetritis.
A few hours earlier, he had spoken in Turkey with Erdogan in a meeting that lasted more than 75 minutes, according to US diplomatic sources, and which took place after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan.
A diplomatic source stated that the latter defended “an immediate ceasefire” in the Palestinian territory.
The North American State Department indicated in a statement that Blinken and Erdogan, in addition to the war, talked about the accession of Sweden to the NATOwhich still needs the agreement of Türkiye and Hungary.
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The diplomat stressed “the need to prevent the conflict from spreading, to increase humanitarian aid, to reduce civilian casualties, to work towards lasting regional peace and to move towards the creation of a Palestinian state”.
The Gaza war was triggered by the bloody attack by Hamas fighters, who killed the October 7 1,140 people in Israel and kidnapped another 250, of whom 132 are still captive in Gaza, according to authorities.
In response, Israel launched a devastating offensive in Gaza that has left 22,722 dead, mostly civilians, according to Hamas’ Health Ministry.
