Blinken heads to the Middle East again as fears of regional conflict surge • FRANCE 24 English

Blinken heads to the Middle East again as fears of regional conflict surge • FRANCE 24 English

More we can speak to our International Affairs commentator Douglas Herbert hello to you uh Doug this is blink’s fourth trip to the region a little uh his last one a little over a month ago but the Stak seemed to be even higher this time around yeah another week

Another mission uh critics of the US policy towards Israel might be forgiven for wondering will this Mission make a difference because until now a lot of the US advice and the the forceful persuasion of its close Ally Israel has in the views of much of the International Community will fallen on

Deaf ears uh essentially the Israeli military from the from a lot of The Outsiders perspective has just been on autopilot in its military drive determin to as it sees it Crush Hamas eliminate It Whatever the price um look the remit officially for Anthony blinkin as he

Kicks off what is an eight Country nstop tour is quote to stem violence to calm rhetoric and to reduce Regional tensions uh that’s quite a tall uh job order if you’re going on a business trip uh but look it does come in a sharper more escalated context because it comes just

Days after as you know hamas’s number two leader was uh basically assassinated wiped out in a drone strike strike attributed to Israel um in Hezbollah stronghold uh right in southern Beirut uh it also comes just days after twin explosions in Iran which yes were subsequently claimed by the Islamic

State group uh not Israel or the us as some hinted might have been responsible but nonetheless that being another chaotic wild card in an already extremely volatile equation and of course you have the the Red Sea attacks by the houti Rebels on commercial shipping leading many ships to reroute

Around uh Africa uh and then perhaps the greatest threat of all and the one that is front and center right now on blink’s uh to-do list is to try to prevent a spillover into over the Lebanon border we’ve had these tit btat skirmishes between Israel and Lebanon uh with

Hezbollah fire firing missiles at Israel Israel retaliating over the past month it’s becoming more and more dire entire communities both north of Israel’s border and in Israel itself south of the Lebanese border have basically evacuated their towns because it’s simply not safe for them to be there and if that were to

Escalate that would really trigger those quote fears of a broader regional conflict yeah and this widening conflict potential widening conflict very alarming but also there’s an urgent concern about getting more Aid into Gaza concerning the humanitarian situation once again there’s the um perhaps inclination of a lot of people to start

To roll their eyes we keep droning on about humanitarian Aid and how dire it is the public health disaster the crisis it really though is becoming more dire even Beyond dire to the extent that right now you’ve had what 2.2 2.3 million Palestinians pre-war estimated population of Gaza 85% of them will have

Been displaced now of those they’re all being pushed further SL South to areas that the Palestinians going there say are not safe despite the Israeli claims that the these are the safer places for them to go as they evacuate from the military zones um there are entire

Families according to the UN and the world food program in uh Southern Gaza notably in Rafa which is a southernmost town there which go entire days without eating anything as they become more displaced and more concentrated in a limited area they say Rafa is now as densely populated as New York City

Perhaps even more so as they become more concentrated you have disease outbreaks this is what the wfp the world food program warns about uh you had about 400,000 cases of disease outbreak since October 7th the day of the Hamas attacks on Israel 400,000 of those nearly 200,000 reported upper respiratory

Infections you know this is the type of thing you when you have covid right you have trouble breathing upper respiratory infections very hard to cure and lots of cases uh especially among children in the group about five years old or younger of getting diarrhea which could lead to very terminal and and deadly

Potentially fatal dehydration extremely extremely grave this is part of yes the Diplomatic remit of Anthony blink because he needs to while limiting civilian casualties while trying to prevent to spill over to the war these big broad geopolitical issues the humanitarian issues are just as much dire and front and center and he still

Has it on his to-do plate to get needed Aid into Gaza Aid which is still far far far short of what is needed all right thank you very much Douglas Herbert our International Affairs commentator

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the Middle East this weekend for the fourth time in three months on a tour expected to focus largely on easing resurgent fears that the Israel-Hamas war could erupt into a broader conflict. With international criticism of Israel’s operations in Gaza mounting, growing US concerns about the end game, and more immediate worries about a recent explosion in attacks in the Red Sea, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, Blinken will have a packed and difficult agenda, as FRANCE 24’s International Affairs Commentator Douglas Herbert explans.
#Blinken #MiddleEast #Israel

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