US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo departed Israel after conducting meetings with Israeli officials on the first official flight from Tel Aviv to Khartoum, Sudan on Tuesday.
Happy to announce that we are on the FIRST official NONSTOP flight from Israel to Sudan! pic.twitter.com/eOXNsBAozC
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 25, 2020
The decision to allow flights was made after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Sudanese leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in February and announced that they would take steps toward normalization. There have been reports in the past week that Sudan also plans to sign a normalization deal with Israel, but the country’s government has denied the claims.
Pompeo met with Netanyahu, Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi during his visit to discuss the normalization deal with the UAE and regional developments. Israeli officials expressed concerns about the rumored Emirati purchase of F-35 fighter jets from the US and discussed combating Iran’s influence in the Middle East.
Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.
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