Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Politics

Blinken meets with Turkey’s Erdogan as Middle East tensions escalate

by January 7, 2024
January 7, 2024
Blinken meets with Turkey’s Erdogan as Middle East tensions escalate
Read this article for free!
Plus get unlimited access to thousands of articles, videos and more with your free account!
Please enter a valid email address.
By entering your email, you are agreeing to Fox News Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. To access the content, check your email and follow the instructions provided.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called on Middle East nations to use their influence over extremist groups in the region to contain the conflict in Gaza and prevent ‘an endless cycle of violence.’ 

Blinken spoke late in the day after he met with top Turkish and Greek officials to start a week-long diplomatic tour aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from escalating into a broader conflict.

The United States’ most senior diplomat told reporters it is in the interest of all Middle East countries to contain the fighting. 

‘We want to make sure that countries who feel that way 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,’ he said before flying to Jordan.

Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah said Saturday it launched rockets at Israel, and the Jewish state said it struck a ‘terrorist cell’ in response. 

Blinken emphasized the importance of maintaining security in northern Israel, along the border with Lebanon. 

‘From the perspective of Israel, it’s clearly not interested, does not want escalation … but they also have to be fully prepared to defend themselves,’ he said.

The State Department chief warned that if the Israel-Hamas war expands, the outcome would be ‘an endless cycle of violence … and lives of insecurity and conflict for people in the region.’ 

Earlier Saturday, Blinken spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after meeting with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan earlier.

Blinken and Fidan discussed the war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as Turkey’s process to ratify Sweden’s membership of NATO, Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement. 

The Biden administration hopes to convince Ankara to influence other Arab states against entering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, seeking to prevent a wider and more costly war. 

A senior State Department official traveling with Blinken, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Turkey has relationships with many parties in the conflict, a reference to its ties to U.S. adversary Iran and Hamas. 

Erdogan has strongly opposed Israel’s military operation in Gaza and accused the Jewish state of committing war crimes against the 2.3 million Palestinians who live there. After the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Erdogan denied that Hamas is a terrorist organization, calling it a ‘liberation group’ that is ‘waging a battle to protect its land and people.’ 

Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 240 hostages back to Gaza in the attacks. 

Israel’s retaliatory war to eliminate Hamas’ governing ability has killed 22,700 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry. However, Hamas officials do not distinguish between civilian and military casualties and their reported figures cannot be independently verified. 

The renewed conflict in Gaza has spilled into the West Bank and been aggravated by Hezbollah terrorists firing rockets at Israeli forces along the northern border with Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen attacking shipping vessels in the Red Sea. 

Blinken’s mission is to persuade Arab states to stop these attacks and make progress in talks on how Gaza could be governed if and when Israel achieves its aim of eradicating Hamas.

Washington wants regional countries, including Turkey, to play a role in reconstruction, governance and potentially security in the Gaza Strip, which has been run by Hamas since 2007, the official told Reuters. 

Blinken is next scheduled to travel to Greece and speak with officials there before bouncing around the Middle East with planned stops in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and Israel over the next week. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Taxpayers foot bill for $23M in DOJ investigations into Trump, $6.4M Biden probe
next post
Vivek Ramaswamy says there are only two ‘America First’ presidential candidates

You may also like

‘Skeptical optimism’: Faith leaders share their hopes for...

December 14, 2024

More than 20 GOP attorneys general call on...

August 13, 2025

FBI Held Children at Gunpoint in the Driveway...

October 11, 2022

KJP on Biden’s Claim of “Jim Crow 2.0”...

October 25, 2022

McCarthy ally calls Gaetz an ‘a–hole’ as tensions...

October 4, 2023

House Republican blasts US Forest Service for pushing...

December 19, 2022

Durham Update: Two Lower-Level FBI Officials Wanted To...

October 15, 2022

Who could lead Ukraine if Zelenskyy resigns?

March 1, 2025

MUST SEE: General Michael Flynn Is Working the...

November 8, 2022

Democratic candidate’s alleged connections to corrupt Ukrainian oligarch...

September 9, 2023

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • CDC Director Susan Monarez refuses to be fired as other officials call it quits

      August 28, 2025
    • Bill Gates met with Trump to talk ‘importance of US global health programs and health research’: spox

      August 28, 2025
    • Trump asks SCOTUS to uphold freeze on billions in USAID payments

      August 27, 2025
    • Three Years of Sounding the Debt Alarm at Cato and on the Debt Dispatch

      August 27, 2025
    • Trump Administration Rightly Attacks EU Tech Regulations but Tariffs and Censorship at Home Harm Americans 

      August 27, 2025
    • White House demands all Gaza hostages return home ‘this week’ amid stalled talks

      August 27, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,897)
    • Investing (2,246)
    • Politics (16,503)
    • Stocks (3,228)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved