Blinken holds talks in Egypt as Lebanon blasts renew escalation fears

By Simon Lewis

CAIRO (Reuters) -An escalation in tensions in the Middle East over the detonation of Hezbollah pagers threatened to overshadow U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's latest regional diplomacy push, as he met senior Egyptian officials on Wednesday hoping to advance efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and improve ties with Cairo.

The top U.S. diplomat's visit comes with the region on high alert due to the risk of the Gaza war expanding, after militant group Hezbollah promised to retaliate against Israel, accusing it of detonating pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday.

Israel has declined to respond to questions about the explosions. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 others were wounded.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told Blinken in their meeting on Wednesday morning that Egypt opposed attempts to "escalate the conflict and expand its scope regionally" and called for all parties to act responsibly, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

Blinken later held talks with Egyptian officials including Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and other officials. In brief remarks, the U.S. top diplomat did not address events in Lebanon, but praised Egypt as a partner "for regional peace, regional stability, regional security," including its role in Gaza ceasefire talks.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday said it was too early to say whether the attack in Lebanon would affect Gaza ceasefire talks.

U.S. officials have for weeks said a new proposal would be presented soon for a deal including the release of hostages taken from Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Blinken will head from Cairo to Paris on Thursday for a meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Italy and Britain to discuss the Middle East and Ukraine and other issues, a State Department official said. Blinken will also meet French President Emmanuel Macron, the official said.

Blinken will not visit Israel on this trip, the first time he has skipped a stop in Washington's closest regional ally since Hamas sparked the war in Gaza nearly a year ago.

Miller said that was because Washington aimed to discuss bilateral issues with Egypt on this trip and the Gaza ceasefire proposal that U.S. and mediators have been working on was still not ready to present to Israel.

Egypt, alongside Qatar, has been a vital intermediary in U.S.-led diplomacy to end the war, shuttling proposals and counterproposals between Hamas and Israel.

In its decades-long alliance with Egypt, Washington has provided billions of dollars worth of military aid, despite accusations of widespread abuses under Sisi's government. Egypt's government denies the accusations.

A nod to Cairo's increased influence came last week when Blinken waived human rights conditions in U.S. foreign military financing to Egypt and allowed the full amount of $1.3 billion for the first time since President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

Seth Binder, director of advocacy for the Washington-based Middle East Democracy Center, said the Biden administration had "completely abandoned any pretense that human rights matter to the relationship."

(Reporting by Simon Lewis; additional reporting by Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk, Cynthia Osterman and Ros Russell)