Saudi Arabia has inaugurated a multilayered fence along its northern borders, as part of efforts to secure the kingdom's vast desert frontiers against infiltrators and smugglers, state media said. 

King Abdullah announced late Friday the launch of the first stage of a border security program, covering 900 kilometers (560 miles) of the northern frontier, SPA state news agency reported.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly renewed its rejection of the election of Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun as president, said As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

Lebanese diplomatic sources told the daily that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal had informed United Nations Special Representative to Lebanon Derek Plumbly of this stance during the latter's recent visit to the kingdom.

A top Iranian official is expected to arrive in Beirut next week for talks with senior Lebanese leaders, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister for the Arab and African Affairs Hussein Amir-Abdollahian will hold talks with senior Lebanese officials and brief them on the latest talks between his country and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities beheaded a Pakistani on Thursday after sentencing him to death for drug trafficking, the interior ministry announced.

A Riyadh court jailed 24 people, including a U.S. citizen, for up to 27 years Wednesday for forming a "terrorist cell" and attempting to attack Saudi and Bahrain, state media said.

The defendants, sentenced to at least two years in prison, also include one Yemeni citizen, while the rest are all Saudi nationals, said the official SPA news agency.

Saudi Arabia has arrested 88 suspected extremists, more than half of them ex-Qaida detainees who had previously been released, the interior ministry announced on Tuesday.

The arrests come as part of the kingdom's drive to "punish" those "belonging to or supporting" groups classified as "terrorist," the ministry added in a statement on the official SPA news agency.

Three Syrians and an Iranian convicted of drug trafficking were executed by the sword in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the interior ministry announced.

Syrians Hamud Hassoun, Hassan Musalamani and Yussef al-Halqi were all arrested with a "large amount of banned amphetamine pills", said three separate statements on the official SPA news agency.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has been invited to the Gulf Cooperation Council's interior ministers' meeting scheduled to be held in Doha next week, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Al-Mashnouq will be the “guest of honor” in the meeting that would also be attended by five cabinet ministers from the GCC countries, the daily said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon could include Lebanon in his tour to the region to discuss with Lebanese officials the situation in the country, An Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The daily said, however, that the issue hasn't been settled yet.

France and Saudi Arabia are close to signing a $3 billion arms deal for Lebanon, the Elysee Palace said Monday following talks between President Francois Hollande and the Saudi crown prince.

"It will not be signed Monday but it is being finalized," an aide to the president said.