WASHINGTON — State Secretary Anthony Blinken returns to the Middle East this week during his twelfth visit since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year, but its first since the expulsion of Syrian President Bashar Assad That has sparked new fears of instability in the region now ravaged by three conflicts, despite one ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.
Blinken will travel to Jordan and Turkey on Thursday and Friday for talks that are expected to focus largely on Syria but will also address long-elusive hopes for an agreement to end fighting in Gaza, which has devastated the area have destroyed 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 on Friday for meetings with Turkish officials. Other stops in the region are also possible, officials said.
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 the new government in Syria to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid, prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors, and ensures chemical weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed,” Miller said.
Blinken will be the latest senior US official to head to the Middle East since Assad fled to Russia on Sunday, as Democratic President Joe Biden prepared to leave office on January 20, 2025 and Republican Donald Trump takes over.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is in Israel. The commander of US forces in the region visited US troops in Syria on Tuesday. Two top State Department officials – John Bass, Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, have been in the region since the weekend.
Trump, who has spoken of his desire to see the conflicts end before he returns to the White House, has sent designated Middle East envoy Stephen Witkoff to the region.