Blinken meets with Saudi crown prince
US pushes for a Gaza cease-fire, release of hostages
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a diplomatic push in the Middle East on Monday for a deal that would pause the war in the Gaza Strip and release the hostages there, even as a drone struck a military base used by US troops and allied forces in eastern Syria.
Blinken, making his fifth trip to the region since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, met in Riyadh with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in the first stop on a trip that will also include meetings in Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the West Bank.
Speaking with the crown prince, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Blinken “underscored the importance of addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza and preventing further spread of the conflict,” the State Department said. It added they discussed “an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza that provides lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
Blinken is hoping to hammer out an agreement that could temporarily stop the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, secure the release of the remaining hostages there in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, and allow more desperately needed aid into the territory.
But even as Blinken sought to ease tensions in the region, a drone struck a base in eastern Syria that has housed American and allied troops, killing six Kurdish fighters, according to the official media outlet of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led group.
Major General Patrick S. Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, said there were no reported US injuries in the wake of the drone strike.
The Syrian Democratic Forces blamed the attack on a militia group linked to Iran, which would make it the latest in a series of strikes by Iranian-backed militias since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas.
For the last decade, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which consists of fighters from the local Kurdish ethnic minority, has operated in eastern Syria with support from a US-led international coalition that needed a local partner to battle the Islamic State group. Though the group has been largely defeated there, a limited number of US troops have remained on the ground.
US forces in the region have come under repeated attack by militant groups supported by Iran over the last few months, as the groups have targeted bases and troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, as well as on US-owned ships in the Red Sea.
The United States and its allies have retaliated with several rounds of airstrikes, including some over the weekend against a militia in Yemen, in response to the ship attacks, and Friday against targets in Syria and Iraq in response to a drone attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan.
The Biden administration has said it does not want to engage in a direct military conflict with Iran. Iranian officials, too, have said that they want to avoid a wider war, while warning they would respond if attacked.
Analysts and US officials have said Iran exercises varying degrees of control over the armed groups it supports around the region. And analysts have warned that both sides risk the tit-for-tat attacks spiraling out of control.
Amid fears of a broader war, Israeli forces were advancing Monday toward Rafah, a southern city in Gaza that is a main entry point for aid and a refuge for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced from their homes earlier in the war.
On Monday, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, called Rafah “Hamas’ last stronghold.”
The turn toward Rafah could heighten international pressure on Israel, including from its closest allies, over the safety and well-being of civilians.
At a news conference in Washington on Monday, Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the US State Department, pointed out that Rafah is an important conduit for humanitarian aid and a place where Americans and other foreign citizens have been able to leave Gaza and enter Egypt. He also noted that more than 1 million people are sheltering there.