Regarding international efforts to reach an agreement in the indirect talks between Israel and the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas, Blinken said: “It is time to bring it to a conclusion.” It is necessary to ensure that “no one takes steps that could torpedo this process.” Blinken explained: “We want to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations.”
7.27 am: US Vice President Kamala Harris has spoken out strongly in favor of concluding an agreement amid ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of the hostages. Talks are ongoing and the US government is not giving up, but is continuing to work “very hard” to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion, said Harris on the sidelines of campaign appearances in the US state of Pennsylvania. “We need to get a ceasefire and we need to get these hostages out,” said Harris.
US President Joe Biden also says that the talks are ongoing. The US will not give up, an agreement is still possible, Biden explains, according to journalists traveling with him, upon his arrival in the Washington area. He had spent the weekend at the US presidents’ country estate, Camp David.
0.55 am: According to Russian sources, a fighter jet from the US-led coalition in Syria “dangerously” approached a Russian surveillance aircraft over the province of Homs. This was reported by the Russian news agency Tass, citing a Russian military representative in Syria. “A coalition F/A-18 fighter bomber came into dangerous contact with an An-30 aircraft from the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was completing a planned flight in Syrian airspace,” Tass quoted the deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria, Captain Oleg Ignasyuk, as saying.
The Russian crew immediately took the necessary measures to prevent a collision. The incident is said to have occurred over the al-Tanf region in Homs. The US maintains a military base there near the border with Jordan. A statement from the US Department of Defense is not yet available. Reuters was initially unable to independently verify the information.
