Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri stressed the importance of Prime Minister Tammam Salam's expected visit to the kingdom, expressing hope that the presidential election would consolidate ties among the Lebanese.

“There a Lebanese unanimity on the importance and necessity of Salam's visit to Saudi Arabia,” Asiri said in comments published on Sunday.

A Syrian court has brought some 30,000 lawsuits over acts related to "terrorism" in the past two years, a pro-regime newspaper in the war-torn country said Sunday.

Among those accused were around 300 citizens of Arab countries other than Syria, said Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Saudi Arabia has reported five new deaths from the MERS respiratory virus, bringing the death toll in the world's worst-hit country to 168.

In its latest tally, issued on Saturday, the health ministry said the total number of infections in the kingdom from the coronavirus since it first appeared in 2012 now stood at 529 people.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam stressed on Sunday that if the March 8 and 14 alliances exerted efforts to reach an agreement over a presidential candidate then the deadlock in the country will end, warning of any possible of vacuum at the country's top Christian post.

“We still have one week before the deadline ends,” Salam said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

Yemeni forces killed seven al-Qaida militants in separate clashes on Saturday while a soldier died in a firefight as the army pressed an offensive against jihadists, officials said.

"Five al-Qaida members" were killed in the southern Shabwa province when clashes broke out after militants ambushed a military convoy, a security official said.

Saudi Arabia is "considering" sanctions against the Netherlands after an anti-Islamic stunt by far-right politician Geert Wilders, the Dutch foreign ministry said on Saturday.

In November, the anti-Islamic lawmaker printed stickers imitating the Saudi flag, replacing its text, which normally reads "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah" with "Islam is a lie, Muhammad a criminal, the Koran is poison".

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji will travel to Saudi Arabia before the end of the month to follow up on the kingdom's grant to the Lebanese army, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

It said that he should head to Saudi Arabia before the end of May in order to sign the protocol linked to Riyadh's grant to the army.

Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri and Lebanese Forces leader and presidential candidate Samir Geagea held talks on Friday in the French capital Paris, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

It said that Geagea is scheduled to also hold talks with various French officials on the latest Lebanese developments.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri announced Friday that the responsibility of electing a new Lebanese president falls on the shoulders of Christians before anyone else, stressing that any foreign interference in the vote is “unacceptable.”

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supports any inter-Lebanese agreement on the election of a president, especially that that would achieve security, stability and prosperity for Lebanon,” Asiri said after meeting Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki.

A Gulf rights group has called for the release of thousands of prisoners of conscience in the oil-rich Gulf states as it marked what it called Gulf Detainees Day to highlight their plight.

The Gulf monarchies do not allow political parties and criticism of rulers can easily land someone in jail.