US Defense Secretary to visit Israel next week

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected to travel to Israel next week, Report informs, citing Axios.

I will be the first Cabinet-level visit to the Middle East from the Biden administration, shifting attention away from the region and toward China and Russia.

Austin is expected to arrive on Sunday and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. The plan will include Iran and other regional issues like Syria and Lebanon, Israeli officials say.

Israeli officials also intend to raise US-Israel security understandings, reached in the final weeks of the Trump administration, on maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge in the region. Israel wants to ensure the Biden administration is committed to those understandings.