US returns to Middle East on diplomacy mission

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) met Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to discuss the escalating conflict in the region. Pic/AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has kicked off his latest urgent Middle East diplomatic mission in Turkiye, as fears mount that Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza may explode into a broader conflict.

Blinken's fourth visit in three months comes amid worrying developments outside of Gaza, including in Lebanon, northern Israel, the Red Sea and Iraq, that have put intense strains on what had been a modestly successful US push to prevent a regional conflagration in the weeks after the war began, and growing international criticism of Israel's military operation.

On Saturday, Blinken met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to discuss what Turkiye and others can do to exert influence, particularly on Iran and its proxies, to ease soaring tensions, speed up humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza and begin in earnest to plan for reconstruction and governance of postwar Gaza, much of which has been reduced to rubble by three months of intense Israeli bombardments.

The immediate difficulty of Blinken's task was underscored just hours before his talks with Erdogan as Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militia fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel, warning that the barrage was just an initial response to the targeted killing, presumably by Israel, of a top leader from the allied Hamas group in Lebanon's capital earlier this week.

Hezbollah fires rockets aimed at northern Israel

Lebanon's Hezbollah militia fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel on Saturday, warning that the barrage was its initial response to the targeted killing, presumably by Israel, of a top leader from the allied Hamas group in Lebanon's capital earlier this week.

The rocket attack came a day after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that his group must retaliate for the killing of Saleh Arouri, the deputy political leader of Hamas in a Hezbollah stronghold south of Beirut.

Nasrallah said that if Hezbollah did not strike back, all of Lebanon would be vulnerable to Israeli attack. Hezbollah said Saturday that it launched 62 rockets toward an Israeli air surveillance base on Mount Meron and that it scored direct hits. The group said rockets also struck two army posts near the border.

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