Blinken and U.S. Allies Struggle with Wars as Biden’s Presidency Wanes

The array of issues that top diplomats from the United States and allied nations tried to tackle in Rome over two days this week was dizzying: embattled Ukraine, multiple Middle East conflicts, the Sudan civil war and other hostilities in Africa, instability in Haiti and Venezuela, and tensions arising from military actions by China and North Korea.

The officials held discussions over meals and in conference rooms in the Italian towns of Fiuggi and Anagni, south of Rome. Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, was there to represent the Biden administration at the end of President Biden’s term, as the world waited for the start of the second presidency of Donald J. Trump and a new era in diplomacy.

What became clear over the two days of the Group of 7 diplomatic meeting was the sheer difficulty the allied nations faced in trying to resolve the increasingly intertwined global issues, as well as the chasms that are widening between some of the allies.

One source of friction is the wars in the Middle East, as the Israeli military continues to pummel Gaza and as Israel and Hezbollah, the military and political group in Lebanon, warily advance toward a cease-fire deal.

At a news conference in Fiuggi on Tuesday evening, at the end of the sessions, Mr. Blinken underscored the violence by Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza when asked about the Middle East. He also spoke of the role of the United States in promoting a potential cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.

“We’ve been focused on trying to see that this cease-fire agreement gets over the line and gets implemented,” he said.