Saudi Arabia lifts ban on Israeli flights amid Biden visit

]Saudi Arabia on Friday opened its airspace to “all air carriers,” signalling the end of its longstanding ban on Israeli flights overflying its territory – a key step toward normalization between the two nations as President Joe Biden visits the region. In a statement posted to Twitter hours before Biden is set to become the first US leader to fly directly from Israel to the kingdom, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said it was announcing “the decision to open the Kingdom’s airspace for all air carriers that meet the requirements of the Authority for overflying.”