Blinken meets with Qatari officials in push to resolve conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Thursday with Qatar’s ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as part of a tour of the region in which Blinken has focused discussions on ending the conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Blinken is also meeting Thursday with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani ahead of talks with Arab officials Friday in London.

While one of Blinken’s agenda items has been to seek an increase in humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza, France hosted an international conference Thursday in Paris to raise funds to help those affected by the war between Israel and Hamas in Lebanon.

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Israel’s military said Thursday it conducted a new round of airstrikes against Hezbollah weapons production sites in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Lebanon’s military said three of its soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike while they were conducting a rescue operation near the village of Yater in southern Lebanon.

Israel has said its fight is with Iran-backed Hezbollah, not Lebanon, in a conflict that has raised fears of wider regional hostilities.

On another front Thursday, Syria’s Defence Ministry said Israeli airstrikes hit Damascus, killing at least one soldier and injuring seven other people.

Israel rarely comments on strikes against targets in Syria, but it has hit Iran-linked targets there for years as part of a campaign to halt weapons transfers to Hezbollah and disrupt Iranian proxies.

Blinken’s tour has included stops in Israel and Saudi Arabia where he discussed the importance of halting the fighting in Gaza and securing the release of hostages still being held there by Iran-backed Hamas.

The top U.S. diplomat has also looked to the eventual end of the conflict, focusing part of his talks with officials on security, governance and reconstruction in Gaza.

The war in Gaza began with the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, during which the militants killed about 1,200 people and took 250 people as hostages. Hamas is still holding about 100 hostages, with a third of them believed to be dead.

Israel’s counteroffensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 42,700 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with Israel saying that the death toll includes several thousand Hamas militants.

The United States, United Kingdom, European Union and others have designated Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations.