Saudi prince lands in UAE

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman embarked Thursday on a regional tour starting with the United Arab Emirates.

Prince Mohammed will visit a "number of brotherly" Arab states at the order of his father, King Salman, the royal court said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, without naming the countries.

Abu Dhabi´s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed welcomed him on his first stop in the UAE, a close ally that is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to the Emirati state news agency WAM.

The two leaders discussed "regional and international" developments and the "challenges and threats facing the Middle East region", WAM said, without elaborating.

The prince is also set to travel to the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, a presidential source in Tunis told AFP. The regional tour, just before the crown prince is expected to attend the G20 summit in Argentina next week.

Turkey´s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet with Prince Mohammed on the sidelines of the G20 summit, according to a Turkish presidential spokesman.