2 yıl önce

US President Biden in Saudi Arabia in last leg of Middle East tour

Saudi state media showed images of Air Force One at the airport in Jeddah after a flight from Israel, making Joe Biden the first US leader to fly directly from there to an Arab nation that does not recognise it.

AFP

Television footage and photographs showed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greeting Biden with a fist bump before escorting him into Al Salam palace.

US President Joe Biden has arrived in Saudi Arabia from Israel for his first visit to the kingdom since taking office last year.

The Emir of Mecca region, Khalid Al-Faisal, welcomed Biden at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on Friday.

Later in the day, the US president met Saudi King Salman, 86, and then had a "working session" with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, flanked by top officials.

A US-Arab summit will be held in Jeddah on Saturday. It will be attended by Biden, the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia announced that it would open its airspace to all carriers, paving the way for allowing Israeli flights over the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and opposes normalisation with Tel Aviv until ending the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia is the last stop in his current regional tour that included Israel and occupied West Bank.

“Her death is an enormous loss,” said US President Biden of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during joint press conference with Palestinian counterpart pic.twitter.com/zb3dQJtjOq
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