CAIRO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Cairo early Wednesday as efforts to secure a truce in the Gaza Strip were further complicated by a wave of explosion in Lebanon.
According to AFP, on his 10th visit to the region since the start of the conflict in Gaza about a year ago, Blinken will address talks efforts with Egyptian officials, the US State Department said. The US Secretary of State is likely to meet with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and hold a news conference with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. AFP reported that Blinken will not travel to Israel in this round of diplomacy.
Several US officials say privately that they do not expect any major breakthroughs at Wednesday’s talks in Cairo, but Antony Blinken’s trip will aim to keep up the pressure campaign for an agreement between Hamas and Israel.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Antony Blinken will be meeting with Egyptian officials regarding a number of things, but squarely on the agenda is how we get a suggestion that they think would secure a deal from both sides.
His trip comes following a series of pagers used by Hezbollah men exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing around nine people and injuring 2,800 in explosion the Iran-backed group blamed on Israel. Miller said that the US was “not involved” and “not aware of this incident in advance.
