AMMAN (AFP) – The United States’ top diplomat was in Jordan yesterday as part of a Middle East tour aiming to ensure the Israel-Hamas war does not spread.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Amman on Saturday evening ahead of meetings with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
Also seeking to get more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, under Israeli bombardment for three months, Blinken is to visit a World Food Programme facility in the Jordanian capital, a senior American official said.
Regional tensions have soared since Tuesday when a strike in a Beirut stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, a Hamas ally, killed Hamas’ deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri. A United States Defense Department official has told AFP that Israel carried out the strike.
In brief remarks on the Greek island of Crete before he travelled to Jordan, Blinken said there is “real concern” over the Israel-Lebanon border, which even before the Aruri strike had seen daily exchanges of fire.
“We want to do everything possible to make sure that we don’t see escalation there” and to avoid an “endless cycle of violence”, Blinken said.
Blinken said he wanted to ensure that concerned countries “are also using their ties, using their influence, using their relationships with some of the actors that might be involved to keep a lid on things, to make sure that we’re not seeing the spread of conflict”.
Turkiye has a “vital role” in that regard, said Blinken, who is making his fourth wartime trip to the region.
