![Blinken Heads Back To Middle East Amid Fragile Truce](https://turan.az/resized/news/2023/NnKCGxpz8oGbEwaKCRO8W1zCbJAbKhRDWN6WfAtQ-750-500-resize.webp)
Blinken Heads Back To Middle East Amid Fragile Truce
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed back to the Middle East later this week, his third to the region since Hamas launched a deadly attack in southern Israel on Oct 7 and kidnapped more than 240 people, TURAN's Wasnington correspondent reports.
The trip will come amid a brief ceasefire and prisoner exchanges during the past couple of days which have been a reprieve from seven weeks of fighting. Blinken, who is currently visiting Europe to attend NATO and OSCE Ministerials in Belgium and North Macedonia, will be headed to Israel, the West Bank, and the UAE, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller announced on Monday/
In Tel-Aviv and the West Bank, Blinken will discuss "Israel’s right to defend itself consistent with international humanitarian law, as well as continued efforts to secure the release of remaining hostages, protect civilian life during Israel’s operations in Gaza, and accelerate humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. The Secretary will also discuss the principles he outlined in Tokyo on November 8, tangible steps to further the creation of a future Palestinian state, and the need to prevent the conflict from widening," Miller said.
Blinken will also stop by Dubai to attend the UN Climate Conference where he will also meet with counterparts on regional issues, including the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Meanwhile, the White House on Monday welcomed the agreement between Israel and Hamas to a 48-hour extension of their four-day pause in fighting.
President Biden applauded the extension in a statement. “We are taking full advantage of the pause in fighting to increase the amount of humanitarian aid moving into Gaza, and we will continue our efforts to build a future of peace and dignity for the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement.
"The humanitarian pause has also enabled a significant surge in additional humanitarian assistance to the innocent civilians who are suffering across the Gaza strip. The United States has led the humanitarian response into Gaza—building on years of work as the largest funder of humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people," Biden noted.
He also added: "We will not stop until all of the hostages held by Hamas terrorists are released. "
Politics
-
Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
-
He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
-
On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
-
On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
Leave a review