RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Riyadh on Wednesday, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia after wrapping up a visit to Israel where he urged leaders to use the opportunity to end the war in Gaza created by the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the destruction of much of the group’s capacity during more than a year of conflict.
During the reception, the two officials reviewed Saudi-American relations and areas of joint cooperation.
They also discussed the latest regional and international developments including developments in Gaza and Lebanon, and efforts made to stop military operations and deal with their security and humanitarian repercussions.
Blinken will also travel to London later this week after visiting the Middle East, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday.
The top US diplomat will hold meetings with Arab leaders in the British capital after talks Thursday in Qatar, Miller said.
Blinken said Israel had succeeded in ensuring there could be no repeat of Oct. 7, 2023 and it should be looking to bring home the remaining 101 Israeli and foreign hostages and end the fighting.
“Now is the time to turn those successes into an enduring strategic success,” he told reporters as he prepared to leave for Riyadh on the next stage of his visit to the Middle East.
“The focus needs to be on getting the hostages home, ending this war and having a clear plan for what follows,” he said.
Israel’s assult has devastated Gaza and forced most of the enclave’s population out of their homes into temporary shelters. Blinken said Israel needed to do more to ensure that adequate humanitarian supplies reached people living in dire conditions.
Blinken is making his first big push for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon since Israel killed the leader of Hamas last week - and his last before a presidential election that could upend US policy in the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not formulated any clear vision for Gaza following the war beyond stating that Palestinian militant group Hamas’ military and governing capacity needed to be dismantled completely.
There has been wide concern among Palestinians that Israel intends to force Palestinians from large stretches of the Gaza Strip to enable greater Israeli control of the area and potentially allow Jewish settlers to return following their withdrawal in 2005.
Blinken repeated that the United States rejected any Israeli occupation of Gaza and said he had been assured by Netanyahu that Israel had no such plans, despite pressure from many in his own party to allow settlers to return.
“It’s been US policy, it will remain US policy, and it’s also, to the best of my understanding, the policy of the Israeli government, that I heard from the prime minister, who is the authoritative word on these things,” he said
Over the past month Israel has also dramatically ramped up war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, a separate Iran-backed militant group that had rocketed Israel in support of the Palestinians. Israel has launched a ground offensive and killed most of Hezbollah's leadership in air strikes that have displaced 1.2 million people.
In Lebanon, Israel's military said it had killed three Hezbollah commanders and some 70 fighters in the south in the past 48 hours, a day after confirming it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the militant group's heir apparent leader.
With Reuters
