Blinken wraps up West Asia tour in Turkiye with little success on pause

US secretary of state Antony Blinken wrapped up a gruelling West Asia diplomatic tour on Monday in Turkiye after only limited success in efforts to forge a regional consensus on how best to ease civilian suffering in Gaza as Israel intensifies its war against Hamas. In Ankara, Blinken met with foreign minister Hakan Fidan following a frantic weekend of travel that took him from Israel to Jordan, the occupied West Bank, Cyprus and Iraq, to build support for the Biden administration's proposal for "humanitarian pauses" to Israel's relentless military campaign in Gaza.