The Biden administration says it will continue its military action against Iranian-backed militia groups. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and militias in Iraq and Syria are “the beginning of our response” to the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh in the course of his fifth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7.
Blinken’s Middle East trip includes stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank, the State Department said. One of his goals is to seek agreement among Arab and Israeli officials over a Palestinian-led governing body for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the war. But significant obstacles remain.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said an overnight drone attack on a base in eastern Syria killed six of its fighters. The SDF blamed Iranian-backed militias. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-linked militias, claimed responsibility for the strike.
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said that Israel’s ground operation in Gaza had dismantled 18 Hamas battalions, of a total of 24, during a news briefing Monday.
At least 27,478 people have been killed and 66,835 injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
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Blinken’s Middle East trip includes stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank, the State Department said. One of his goals is to seek agreement among Arab and Israeli officials over a Palestinian-led governing body for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the war. But significant obstacles remain.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said an overnight drone attack on a base in eastern Syria killed six of its fighters. The SDF blamed Iranian-backed militias. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-linked militias, claimed responsibility for the strike.
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said that Israel’s ground operation in Gaza had dismantled 18 Hamas battalions, of a total of 24, during a news briefing Monday.
At least 27,478 people have been killed and 66,835 injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
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