Pompeo Headed to Israel, Probably with US Reassurances on Syria

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due in Israel on Friday to “discuss developments in Syria and the continued need to counter the Iranian regime’s destabilizing behavior in the region,” according to a State Department communique. He is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in an attempt, at least according to most accounts by Israeli observers, to assuage any concerns over the recent US pullback in Syria, which led to a Turkish incursion against a Kurdish militia. Pompeo will be arriving directly from Ankara, where he and Vice President Mike Pence are hoping to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an effort to convince him to halt the incursion. Netanyahu is walking a fine line in that he has expressed deep support for the Syrian Kurds but has not criticized US President Donald Trump for the pullback.