BEIRUT: French President Francois Hollande has arrived in Beirut at the start of a regional tour that will take him to Egypt and Jordan.

During his two-day visit to Lebanon, the French president is scheduled to meet senior officials and visit a group of Syrian refugees in the country's eastern Bekaa Valley.

Lebanon is home to more than a million Syrian refugees, the equivalent of a quarter the country's population of 4.5 million.

Airport officials say Hollande and his delegation arrived aboard three planes that landed in Beirut Saturday afternoon.

The official welcome ceremony will be held at the parliament building since Lebanon has been without a head of state since May 2014.