Monday, November 6, 2023

Blinken meets Iraqi PM in Baghdad, says attacks on US forces there ‘unacceptable’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Sunday following a trip to the West Bank earlier in the day to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

The visit came after a brief stop in Cyprus to discuss a possible maritime aid route to Gaza and was not announced in advance for security reasons.

In Baghdad, Blinken met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 shock assault on southern Israel when thousands of terrorists killed 1,400, a majority of them civilians, and abducted some 240, including children and elderly people.

The two “discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and our continued commitment to coordinating with Iraq and our other partners in the region to ensure sustained and safe access to food, water, medical care, and other assistance required to meet humanitarian needs,” the US State Department said.

The pair also agreed about the need “to ensure that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced outside of Gaza,” amid several Israeli proposals suggesting as much, the US readout said. READ MORE