Top Biden Aide Planning Israel Trip as Hard-Right Coalition Takes Power

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 10, 2022. (Reuters)
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 10, 2022. (Reuters)
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Top Biden Aide Planning Israel Trip as Hard-Right Coalition Takes Power

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 10, 2022. (Reuters)
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 10, 2022. (Reuters)

US President Joe Biden's National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, is planning a trip to Israel this month after the formation of a new government topped by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a White House official said on Monday.

The meetings in Israel will come as Netanyahu's new alliance with ultra-nationalists has worried White House officials about the prospects for worsening Israel's relations with Palestinians.

On Monday, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian militants during clashes near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian sources said.

Biden is also working to find common ground with the new Israeli government on an approach to stalled Iranian nuclear talks.

Biden said on Thursday that he looked forward to working with Netanyahu, who he called "my friend for decades," and committed "to support the two-state solution and to oppose policies that endanger its viability or contradict our mutual interests and values."

Dates for Sullivan's meetings have not been set yet, said the administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.



Italy Says Suspending EU Sanctions on Syria Could Help Encourage Transition

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
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Italy Says Suspending EU Sanctions on Syria Could Help Encourage Transition

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)

Italy's foreign minister says a moratorium on European Union sanctions on Syria could help encourage the country's transition after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad by opposition groups.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani visited Syria on Friday and expressed Italy’s keen interest in helping Syria recover from civil war, rebuild its broken economy and help stabilize the region.

Tajani, who met with Syria’s new de facto leaders, including Ahmed al-Sharaa, said a stable Syria and Lebanon was of strategic and commercial importance to Europe.

He said the fall of Assad's government, as well as the Lebanon parliament's vote on Thursday to elect army commander Joseph Aoun as president, were signs of optimism for Middle East stability.

He said Italy wanted to play a leading role in Syria’s recovery and serve as a bridge between Damascus and the EU, particularly given Italy’s commercial and strategic interests in the Mediterranean.

“The Mediterranean can no longer just be a sea of death, a cemetery of migrants but a sea of commerce a sea of development,” he said.

Tajani later traveled to Lebanon and met with Aoun. Italy has long played a sizeable role in the UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon, UNIFIL.

On the eve of his visit, Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and officials from Britain, France and Germany as well as the EU foreign policy chief. He said that meeting of the so-called Quintet on Syria was key to begin the discussion about a change to the EU sanctions.

“The sanctions were against the Assad regime. If the situation has changed, we have to change our choices,” Tajani said.