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U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, left, is greeted by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Darhan al Saud, February 5, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
© Chuck Kennedy/Imago
The US wants to avoid a major war in the Middle East, but at the same time it feels compelled to attack Iranian militias.
Riyadh - Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday as the region braced for more attacks between U.S. forces and Iran-backed proxy groups.
The top US diplomat had a complicated message with him on his trip: Even though the United States is targeting militias in Syria and Iraq, it is ultimately seeking de-escalation against groups allied with Iran.
“The United States does not want the conflict to escalate and will not escalate it,” a senior State Department official told reporters on Blinken’s plane en route to the Saudi capital.
Blinken's team says the launch of dozens of U.S. strikes on militia targets on Friday was a proportionate response to the Jan. 28 killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan.
And while the White House announced further retaliation in the coming days, “we do not view this as an escalation,” the official said.
We don’t see this as an escalation,” the official said.
“It is the response we said we would take if American soldiers were killed, and that is exactly what we are doing,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.
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War in Israel: Blinken wants to push hostage deal forward
The United States has refused to attack targets in Iran despite calls from several Republicans in Congress.
Such a move would likely lead to even more serious attacks on American personnel in the region.
Yemen's Houthis, an Iran-aligned group, have said they will continue to attack commercial vessels and fire on U.S. facilities until a ceasefire is agreed in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has been fighting a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 More than 1,200 people were killed and more than 27,000 people died.
U.S.-led attacks in Yemen over the weekend targeted weapons bunkers, missile launch pads and radar sites used by the Houthis to launch attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, authorities said.
The connection between the Israel conflict and mutual attacks has not been lost on U.S. officials, which is why Blinken is trying to push a possible hostage deal between Hamas and Israel.
Those efforts would include a cessation of hostilities that Washington hopes could develop into a permanent ceasefire.
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“It is no coincidence that we are heading to the three countries involved in these talks: Egypt, Qatar and Israel,” the senior US official said, referring to the next three stops on the trip.
“It is impossible to say if and when we will achieve a breakthrough,” he added.
Hostage deal between Hamas and Israel: negotiations continue
Hamas has not yet made a formal response to a framework agreement drawn up in Paris by the intelligence chiefs of the United States, Egypt and Israel in coordination with the prime minister of Qatar.
The proposal calls for a six-week cessation of hostilities in exchange for a gradual release of the hostages.
Hamas had previously said the next hostage deal must include a permanent ceasefire - a condition Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected as he has vowed to continue fighting until "total victory."
Blinken's trip is his fifth to the Middle East since the start of the Gaza war.
During his visits, he has sought to develop longer-term postwar planning aimed at reaching an agreement between Arab and Israeli officials on a single, Palestinian-led governing body for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
If hostilities cease and Hamas can be removed from power - which is very likely - Blinken will need Washington's Arab allies to create a new governing structure.
This will require a series of complex steps, including a multibillion-dollar reconstruction financed by the energy-rich Arab states of the Persian Gulf, reforms of the Palestinian Authority, including the installation of younger leaders alongside Mahmoud Abbas, the authority's 88-year-old president, an agreed path to a Palestinian state and the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Israel wants to expand offensive in Gaza despite promises to the USA
“If there is a humanitarian pause, we want to be able to move forward the different chapters as quickly as possible,” the senior US official said.
The Israeli military is expected to expand its campaign in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in an area the United Nations has described as a "pressure cauldron of despair."
The Israeli military is expected to expand its campaign in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in what the United Nations calls a "pressure cauldron of desperation."
Israeli officials had promised their U.S. counterparts that they would end "high-speed" military operations by the end of January - a promise that Israel has not kept.
The heavy bombing continues.
The Biden administration has rejected calls to pressure the Israelis by imposing conditions on U.S. arms transfers or withholding military support.
In the absence of such steps, U.S. officials say the best way to influence Israeli behavior is through face-to-face meetings.
“To make real breakthroughs, the minister has to be there or the president has to be on the phone with the prime minister,” the senior US official said.
“So whenever we come to Israel, we have a list of things we want to enforce.”
To the author
John Hudson
is a reporter at The Washington Post covering the State Department and national security.
He was part of the team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Relations for its coverage of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
He has reported from dozens of countries including Ukraine, China, Afghanistan, India and Belarus.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on February 5, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.