Capitals: Agencies
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, at the start of a new tour in the Middle East that includes Jordan and Israel.
The US State Department reported, on Saturday, that Blinken would meet with regional partners in Saudi Arabia, on Monday and Tuesday, to discuss efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli detainees.
This is the US Secretary of State's seventh tour to the region since the start of the war on Gaza on October 7th.

This comes as Palestinian media said that at least 15 martyrs were killed as a result of the continuous raids on areas in the Palestinian city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
Cairo News Channel reported the martyrdom of five Palestinians in an occupation bombing that targeted a house in the Shaboura camp in central Rafah, and also indicated the martyrdom of three brothers as a result of an occupation raid on a house for the Al-Khatib family in the Al-Geneina neighborhood, east of Rafah.
It is noteworthy that Jordanian Prime Minister Dr. Bisher Al-Khasawneh warned that any military operation in the Palestinian Rafah would lead to an exacerbation of the humanitarian suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip.
This came during Al-Khasawneh's meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, on the sidelines of the special meeting of the World Economic Forum currently held in Riyadh.
The Jordanian Prime Minister briefed his Malaysian counterpart on the efforts made by Jordan under the leadership of King Abdullah II to stop the brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and the necessity of providing protection for civilians and delivering humanitarian and medical aid urgently and sustainably.
Al-Khasawneh stressed the necessity of moving to a political horizon that guarantees the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state along the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the two-state solution.
During the meeting, which was attended by the Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs, Ayman Al-Safadi, the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Zeina Toukan, and the Jordanian Ambassador to Riyadh, Haitham Abu Al-Foul, the Jordanian Prime Minister and his Malaysian counterpart discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries and developments in the situation in the region, especially with regard to the Israeli aggression against Gaza.
Al-Khasawneh pointed to Jordan's interest in developing joint cooperation relations with Malaysia in all fields, stressing the importance of holding the first meeting of the Jordanian-Malaysian Trade Committee to discuss the prospects for trade, economic and investment cooperation between the two countries.
For his part, the Malaysian Prime Minister stressed his keenness to strengthen bilateral relations and expand the horizons of joint cooperation with Jordan in all fields to serve the interests of the two countries and peoples, expressing his appreciation for the efforts of King Abdullah II to enhance security and stability and bring peace to the region.