Riyadh: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior Chinese officials on Friday, landed at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Airport on Monday with high hopes of brokering a deal on post-Gaza war governance. Shortly after landing in the Arab state, Blinken met his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal Bin Farhan al Saud. However, the details of the meetings are yet to be disclosed.
Blinken’s trip comes amid renewed concerns about the conflict spreading in the Middle East and with once-promising prospects for Israeli-Saudi rapprochement effectively on hold as Israel refuses to consider one of the Saudis’ main conditions for normalized relations: the creation of a Palestinian state.
According to news agency Reuters, the top Biden official will meet his Arab partners and counterparts to discuss post-war Gaza. Besides, his visit will focus on pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take concrete and tangible steps. According to Israeli media reports, Netanyahu is planning a massive raid on the Rafah region.
