US Foreign Minister Blinken Flies To Middle East, Pushes Negotiations To End Gaza War

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken / PHOTO via Instagram @secblinken

JAKARTA - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will carry out another push for a ceasefire agreement in his trip to the Middle East. Blinken started negotiations to end Gaza's war and also defused the conflict in Lebanon.

Blinken's last trip to the region comes as Israel intensifys its military operations in Gaza and in Lebanon against Hezbollah in partnership with Iran.

America is trying to resolve interrelated complex conflicts after Israel stepped up its stakes by killing Hezbollah leaders, including veteran secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, but shows no sign of stopping its land and airstrikes.

Killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week after a year-long search was a big win for Israel.

But its leaders say the war must continue until the Islamist group calls for military and security threats against Israel.

Iran and its allies say Sinwar's death in a shootout with Israeli soldiers in Gaza will strengthen their determination.

Israel has a long history of killing Hamas leaders who caused a major setback for the group but did not paralyze it.

Blinken will discuss with regional leaders about the importance of ending the war in Gaza, how to map out post-conflict plans in the Palestinian enclave, as well as how to achieve diplomatic solutions to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the US State Department said.

US envoy Amos Hochstein held talks with Lebanese officials in Beirut on Monday over terms of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah after Israel attacked branches of financial institutions linked to the group across Lebanon.

He said it was not enough for both sides to commit to UN resolution 1701, which ended the final round of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in 2006.

Hochstein said neither Hezbollah nor Israel had implemented the resolution adequately.

While the resolution would be the basis for ending current hostilities, the US is working to determine what else needs to be done to ensure the resolution is implemented fairly and accurately and transparently.

"We are working with the Lebanese government, the Lebanese state, and the Israeli government to achieve the formula that ends this conflict forever," he said.

Israel launched ground military operations over the past month after a year of border clashes sparked by Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza.