Blinken Is Returning to Mideast        12/12 06:08

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning to the 
Middle East this week on his 12th visit since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last 
year but his first since the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The 
upheaval in Syria has sparked new fears of instability in a region wracked by 
three conflicts, despite a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.

   Blinken will travel to Jordan and Turkey on Thursday and Friday for talks 
expected to focus largely on Syria but also touch on long-elusive hopes for a 
deal to end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory 
since October 2023.

   The State Department said Blinken would meet Jordanian officials, including 
King Abdullah II, in the port city of Aqaba on Thursday before flying to Ankara 
for meetings with Turkish officials Friday. Other stops in the region are 
possible, officials said.

   Blinken was departing after Republican lawmakers grilled him for longer than 
expected during testy congressional testimony Wednesday about the U.S. troop 
withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

   The Biden administration has sent a series of officials to the Middle East, 
including national security adviser Jake Sullivan this week, as it navigates 
more volatility in the region in its last few weeks in office and as 
President-elect Donald Trump has said the U.S. should stay out of the Syrian 
conflict. The military has unleashed airstrikes and kept U.S. troops in Syria 
to prevent the Islamic State militant group from reconstituting in the upheaval.

   On his visit, Blinken "will reiterate the United States' support for an 
inclusive, Syrian-led transition to an accountable and representative 
government," department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

   "He will discuss the need for the transition process and new government in 
Syria to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian 
assistance, prevent Syria from being used as a base of terrorism or posing a 
threat to its neighbors, and ensure that chemical weapons stockpiles are 
secured and safely destroyed," Miller said.

   Blinken said Tuesday the U.S. would be willing to recognize and fully 
support a new Syrian government that met those criteria. U.S. officials say 
they are not actively reviewing the foreign terrorist organization designation 
of the main Syrian rebel group but stressed they are not barred from speaking 
to members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, which was once an al-Qaida 
affiliate.

   Blinken then spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, 
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to underscore the administration's position 
on Syria. He also reiterated the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza that 
releases the hostages taken by Hamas in its attack that launched the war and 
sets the stage for a "day after" plan for the governance, security and 
reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave.

   Blinken will be the latest senior U.S. official to trek to the Middle East 
since Assad fled to Russia over the weekend as Democratic President Joe Biden 
prepares to leave the White House on Jan. 20 and Trump takes over.

   Sullivan is in Israel and is expected to travel on to Egypt and Qatar 
afterward. The commander of U.S. forces in the region, Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, 
visited American troops in Syria and then leaders in Iraq on Tuesday, and he 
was in Lebanon on Wednesday.

   Meanwhile, Trump's incoming national security adviser met on Wednesday with 
families of Americans who are being held hostage in Gaza, according to a Trump 
transition official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter.

   Florida Rep. Mike Waltz's meeting with the hostage families is the first 
known face-to-face engagement by a top Trump adviser since the Republican's 
defeat of Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris last month.

   Two top State Department officials -- John Bass, undersecretary of state for 
political affairs, and Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near East 
affairs -- have been in the region since the weekend.

   Trump, who has spoken of his desire to see the conflicts end before he is 
back in the White House, has sent his designated Mideast envoy, Stephen 
Witkoff, to the region.