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11-01-2024
WASHINGTON/ RIYADH/ DOHA: Of all the priorities for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his fourth visit to the Middle East in three months, there is one message above all others that he wants to deliver.
His main mission on this trip is to ensure the Israel-Gaza war does not spread into a regional conflict.
As he flies between destinations in southwest Asia, a packed schedule that includes stops in Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel there is ample evidence, however, that the cauldron of tensions in the region is on the verge of boiling over.
Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched repeated missile and drone attacks on civilian shipping in the Red Sea, bringing traffic through that key international waterway to a near halt.
The US has warned that it will defend its interests. If the rebels persist, and the disruption to global commerce continues, an American military response may be inevitable, a development that would unnerve some key American Arab allies.
“We never see a military action as a resolution,” said the Qatari prime minister in a joint press conference with Blinken in Doha on Sunday. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said his biggest worry was that such action would “keep us in a loop that will never end and will create a real tension in the entire region”.
On Saturday, Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon fired a barrage of rocket attacks on northern Israel in reprisal for what appeared to be an Israeli-planned bomb attack that killed a key Hamas leader in Beirut. Israel responded with air strikes targeting Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
An escalation there, Blinken said later that day, was a “real concern”. He called on regional powers with influence over Hezbollah in other words Iran and, to a lesser extent, Turkey to use their influence to “try to keep things in check”.
That may be difficult. As the Washington Post reported, American officials are concerned that Israel may be considering a more expansive offensive against Hezbollah.
“We prefer the path of an agreed-upon diplomatic settlement, but we are getting close to the point where the hourglass will turn over,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday.
Meanwhile, US military installations have been hit by rocket and drone attacks from militants in Iraq and Syria, where more than 3,000 American soldiers are stationed. In late October, a drone breached US defences and struck a barracks but did not detonate, according to a media report, narrowly avoiding what might have been significant American casualties. (Int’l News Desk)
