Blinken’s three-day visit will also focus on efforts to end conflicts in Sudan and Yemen, the joint battle against the Islamic State group and the Arab world’s relations with Israel.
His trip comes at a time of quickly shifting alliances in the Middle East, centred around a China-brokered rapprochement in March between regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Another landmark change saw Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad invited back to the Arab League last month for the first time since the start of the twelve-year civil war in which his government has been backed by Russia and Iran.
