Pompeo heads to ME to shore up alliances

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will tour eight Middle East capitals next week in an effort to shore up crucial alliances strained by the Yemen war, US plans to exit Syria and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Pompeo leaves on Tuesday for the eight-day trip to Amman, Cairo, Manama, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Muscat, and finally Kuwait City, the State Department announced on Friday.

In addition, according to the White House last week, a stop in Baghdad is possible, though the State Department could not confirm it.

The trip was confirmed two weeks after President Donald Trump announced unexpectedly that the US would pull its troops out of Syria, stunning allies and sparking concerns of a vacuum in the war-torn country that could be filled by Iran.

Pompeo is scheduled to make a keynote address in Cairo, his second stop, where he will underscore the trip's overall message that "the United States is not leaving the Middle East," a senior State Department official told journalists Friday.

At the same time, Washington wants its Middle East allies to shoulder more of the burden in maintaining regional security and stability, amid fears of a resurgence of extremist groups like al-Qaeda and Islamic State as US forces pull back.

Pompeo is under pressure to counter the impression given to US allies in the region by Trump's December 19 announcement that the US withdrawal from Syria would take place immediately.

Nearby countries, led by Israel, are nervous that their regional arch-rival Iran will be able expand its presence in Syria with the possible resumption to full power of Tehran's ally President Bashar al-Assad.