US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has discussed the situation in the Middle East with his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan, the State Department said on Saturday. The two discussed the need to institute United Nations resolution 1701, which would allow civilians on both the Lebanese and Israeli side of the border to return home. The resolution, agreed to at the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, calls for a demilitarization of an area between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River, which is about 30 kilometres north of the border. The Iran-backed Hezbollah militia has repeate…