US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has kicked off his Middle East tour. His first stop is Cairo, where he's expected to mainly discuss bilateral relations, the Palestinian peace process and the regional fight against terrorism. But talks may not exactly be smooth sailing, as Adel EL Mahrouky reports.

Rex Tillerson is beginning his Middle East tour from Cairo, where he'll be meeting the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah EL Sisi. America role in the region is still being rejected after Trump's announcement to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. And the US support to Israel's attack on Syria on Saturday may complicate Tillerson's mission even more.

AHMED BASHA EDITOR IN CHIEF, ROSA AL YOUSSEF "Egypt's foreign policy strategy is to liberate itself from any foreign influences, Washington included. It has a code of ethics for the regional crisis that it follows. Many countries have intervened in Syria, but not Cairo. It believes in the necessity to keep the Syrian Army unified, to let the Syrian people decide for themselves. Israel's attack increases instability and that, of course, will be discussed."

Tillerson is planning to visit Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait, where he'll attend Iraq's reconstruction conference. But the White House decided to avoid further financial commitments to rebuild a country it brought a war to.

AHMED BASHA EDITOR IN CHIEF, ROSA AL YOUSSEF "The situation in the Middle East is extremely complicated. US policies in the region have made it more complicated, especially with Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. This makes any diplomatic mission for Washington here very hard. So Tillerson is here on a very challenging mission."

All five countries on Tillerson schedule are considered allies to Washington. Yet unease surrounds almost all the topics he's going to discuss. In Cairo, two topics are expected to top his talks, the Palestinian peace process and fighting terrorism. Both are topics Egypt wants to see a significant change in Trump's approach to them.

ADEL EL MAHROUKY CAIRO, EGYPT "Tillerson is coming to discuss several sensitive issues to the Middle East, and after the recent developments in the region, it seems that he won't be holding easy talks. Adel El Mahrouky, CGTN, Cairo."