Pompeo to visit Bahrain

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Bahrain next week as part of a Middle East tour to discuss the war in Yemen, Iran and Syria. The State Department said Pompeo will visit eight countries in the region, starting with Jordan and ending in Kuwait. Pompeo will underscore US support for its allies and counter-terrorism cooperation during his Middle East visit, a US official said. The official also said that the US has no plans right now to facilitate Arab forces going into Syria.

It will be Pompeo’s first trip to the region since President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he intends to withdraw US forces from Syria. That decision, which led Jim Mattis to step down as defence secretary, as well as the Trump administration’s hard line on Iran is expected to dominate Pompeo’s agenda during the trip. The visit will be from Jan 8 to Jan 15 and will include Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

“On his second stop in Cairo he will deliver a speech on the US commitment to peace, prosperity, stability, and security in the Middle East,” the state department said. Washington is seeking to build a consensus on how to deal with Syria and its supporter Iran in the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement in December of a US troop withdrawal from the war-torn country.

It is also seeking a solution to the three-year-old war in Yemen in which US-supported coalition has battled with Iran-supported Houthi rebels over control of the country. Both sides recently agreed to a ceasefire in the port city of Hodeida while UN envoy Martin Griffiths seeks to bring about a new round of talks between them.