US President Joe Biden arrives in Israel for Mideast visit

President Joe Biden has arrived in Israel for the first visit to the Middle East of his presidency. It’s a whirlwind four-day trip in which he will hold talks with Israeli, Palestinian, and Saudi Arabian officials.

Biden is participating Wednesday in a formal welcome ceremony in Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport and will receive a briefing on Israel’s Iron Dome and Iron Beam air defense systems. He’ll later make his way to Jerusalem for a wreath laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to Holocaust victims in World War II.

The US and Israel will hold talks on renewing a "global coalition" against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Wednesday as he welcomed President Joe Biden to the country.

"We will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear programme," Lapid said, moments after Air Force One touched down in Israel, starting Biden's first tour of the Middle East as president.

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Biden is spending two days in Jerusalem for talks with Israeli leaders before meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in the West Bank. He then heads to Saudi Arabia.

• MENA