Blinken meets Cyprus leader, thanks country for hosting Americans who fled Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making a short detour on his urgent Middle East diplomacy tour, stopping in Cyprus where he’s meeting the nation’s leader.

The State Department says Blinken is meeting briefly with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos mainly to thank them for Cyprus’s role in temporarily hosting some American citizens who fled from Israel in the first weeks of the Gaza war.

The US chartered at least one cruise liner that took Americans from the port of Haifa to Larnaca as Israel’s military operations against Hamas intensified and the terror group accelerated rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns following its Octover 7 massacres.

Blinken is on his way to Turkey to meet senior officials tomorrow.