Biden's Middle East trip aims to shore up a relatively calm moment in the region

President Biden's visit to the Middle East will start in Israel on Wednesday. Then he will go to the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet the Palestinian leadership. From there, he'll attend a regional Arab summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he'll meet leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt.

Evan Vucci / Evan Vucci

President Biden will be in the Middle East this week, where he’ll meet with 11 regional leaders. It’s the first trip of his presidency to the region — prompted in part by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rising oil prices it’s caused.

No major strategic deals appear to be in the works but the White House says the president hopes to build on connections between the countries and support what it says is a more stable region than it was a couple of years ago.

The Middle East is relatively calm — but just barely. The seven-year war in Yemen — with hundreds of thousands dead from violence and deprivation — has seen three months of cease-fire between Iran-backed and Saudi-led forces.