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Agence France-Presse

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Sunday following a trip to the occupied West Bank earlier in the day.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani met Blinken, the premier’s office said, with the two expected to discuss the risks of escalation in Israel’s war with Hamas.
Blinken’s visit – which came after a brief stop in Cyprus to discuss a possible maritime aid route to Gaza – was not announced in advance for security reasons.
Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, a series of rocket and drone attacks have targeted military bases hosting US forces in Iraq.

“I made very clear that attacks or threats coming from militias that are aligned with Iran are totally unacceptable,” Blinken said on Sunday.
“We will take every necessary step to protect our people,” he added during a meeting with Sudani.
Israel’s military announces it has surrounded Gaza City
Washington has accused Iran of having a hand in the attacks which have also targeted American troops in Syria.
Most of the attacks have been claimed by a group known as “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, according to Telegram channels affiliated with Iraqi factions close to Tehran.
Figures released by the Pentagon on Friday showed that between October 17 and November 3 there were 17 attacks in Iraq and 12 in Syria.
Some 2,500 American troops are deployed in Iraq, tasked with advising their Iraqi counterparts in the fight against Islamic State.
Sudani condemned the attacks and said investigations were under way to determine the perpetrators.
Iraq’s prime minister has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and has described Israel’s military operation in the coastal territory as a “genocide” against the Palestinian people.




During his meeting with Blinken on Sunday, he reiterated calls for a ceasefire and pointed to “the urgency of containing the crisis and preventing its spread”, a statement from his office said.
Iraq does not recognise Israel as a state and its government is close to Iran, which in turn backs Hamas.
On Sunday evening, thousands of supporters of influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, brandishing Iraqi and Palestinian flags.
Some burned Israeli and US flags during the demonstration, which followed a call from Sadr’s movement on X, formerly Twitter, to “protest peacefully” against Blinken’s visit.
Blinken is engaged in a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, having visited Israel on Friday followed by Jordan on Saturday for talks with King Abdullah II and where he took part in ministerial meetings with five of his Arab counterparts.
On Sunday morning, he travelled to the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, followed by a stop in Cyprus where he met the president and foreign minister.


Israeli gunfire kills 11-year-old girl in Gaza ‘safe zone’ despite ceasefire

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UN accuses Israel of West Bank ‘apartheid’, citing discrimination against Palestinians

Palestinian embassy in UK officially inaugurated

Israel-Gaza war

Blinken makes surprise visit to Iraq as Israel-Gaza war rages

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a helicopter after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad. Photo: Reuters

People took to the streets in Baghdad to protest against the visit of US Secretary of State Blinken to Iraq. Photo: EPA-EFE

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits West Bank as fierce fighting roils Gaza

Palestinians take part in a protest against the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Photo: Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken en route to meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: AP

Palestinians search for bodies and survivors among the rubble of a residential building following an air strike at the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: EPA-EFE

Antony Blinken meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: AP

People cook food on firewood after a gas cut-off in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Photo: Xinhua

Israeli air strikes on Gaza continue overnight amid humanitarian crisis as Blinken seeks support for a ceasefire

A flares lights the sky moments before an Israeli air strike on Gaza City. Photo: AFP

Blinken rebuffs Arab states’ push for immediate Israel-Gaza ceasefire

Palestinian children in the city of Ramallah hold posters during a protest in solidarity with children in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Photo: AFP

(From left) Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hold a joint press conference in Amman, Jordan on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Month of Israel-Gaza war changed everything as ‘Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of innocent people’: Al Quds

Palestinians comfort a crying man after losing relatives under the rubble of a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Photo: AP

A woman does household chores among the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Photo: Xinhua

Blinken urges Israel to allow humanitarian pauses as Gaza death toll soars

A Palestinian checks the destruction after Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip in Khan Younis on Friday. Photo: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Kirya in Tel Aviv on Friday. Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO via dpa

Palestinian children walk along a road ripped up by an Israeli manned bulldozer during their incursion and clashes in the Palestinian Jenin refugee camp in the northern Israeli occupied West Bank on Friday. Photo: AFP

Israeli security survey damaged vehicles and buildings the day after a rocket attack from southern Lebanon on the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel on Friday. Photo: AFP

News

World

Middle East

US secretary of state has engaged in shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza
Washington has accused Hamas ally Iran of having a hand in attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria


US secretary of state has engaged in shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza.
