Trump Arrives Saudi Arabia On Historic Visit To Middle East
American leader, Donald Trump, has arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the start of a historic Middle East diplomatic visit aimed at fostering relations with core Arab nations, with strong trade underpin.
The visit, the first to the area since he began his second term in office, offers Trump the opportunity for close quarter interaction with leaders of core Arab states , some of which, including Egypt and Qatar had been at the forefront of the search for an enduring ceasefire in the ongoing military conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The conflict, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides, but mainly on that of Hamas, has sucked in America, France, Britain, Canada and Germany which had provided military hardware, actionable intelligence, ordnance experts and training for its ally, Israel.
The unconditional support of America for Israel has drawn the angst of the Arab world and much of the rest of the world, and the visit of Trump is a major physical effort by Washington to get a distraught Arab world into its plan for Gaza.
Yesterday, Hamas, in a surprise move, released Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage in its custody as a gesture of goodwill to Trump who is understood to have directed close contact negotiations with leaders of Hamas, to the chagrin of Israel.
During the visit, Trump is expected to market his idea of ceasefire talks to Saudi Arabia in the hope of helping pressure Hamas into agreeing to it.
But trade is also a core underpin of the visit to Saudi Arabia which is expected to sign a trade deal worth $100billion with Washington.
From Saudi Arabia will leave for Qatar and eventually the United Arab Emirates ( UAE) harvesting trade deals expected to run into trillions of dollars, mainly in military hardware procurement from Washington.
Trump was accorded a red carpet reception, treated to a guard of honour and later feted by Saudi Arabian leader, Crown Prince Mohammed Ibn Salman as he arrived in Riyadh
