US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s trip to the Middle East is focused on de-escalating the war in Gaza, the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland news network reports. Before that, however, Blinken visits Constantinople and Crete, where he “wants to campaign for the normalization of Greek-Turkish relations”.

Spiegel magazine on its website describes the trip as “Mission Impossible”, a “dangerous mission” that clearly refers to the action films of the same name.

This is Blinken’s fourth visit to the region after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the publication points out, while commenting that it is possibly the most “risky”:

“On behalf of US President Joe Biden, (s.a. Anthony Blinken) is to remain in the region for a week, attempting to untangle this increasingly tight tangle of dangers that has been woven in the Middle East since the terrorist attack by Hamas and the massive counterattack by Israel. (…) In his mission, Biden’s envoy is called upon to juggle diplomatically between national, regional and global interests.”