Top diplomat Blinken will visit the Mideast again this coming week. What can he achieve this time?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning to the Middle East on his seventh diplomatic mission to the region since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began more than six months ago. Blinken is traveling to Saudi Arabia on Monday, just two days since arriving back in Washington after a trip to China. Blinken will attend a World Economic Forum conference and meet with Arab foreign ministers in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. An Israeli official says Blinken will visit Israel on Tuesday. That stop day isn’t mentioned in the State Department’s announcement Saturday about Blinken’s itinerary.