Lebanese Forces leader and presidential hopeful Samir Geagea traveled on Friday on a work trip, the party said in a press release.

Geagea's destination wasn't formally revealed but sources close to LF told LBCI that the Christian leader traveled on an Arab and European tour.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said that the agreement on a consensual presidential candidate required an understanding between Iran and Saudi Arabia coupled with the cooperation of the rival parties with Hizbullah and its baker Tehran.

An official close to Jumblat told Addiyar daily that the PSP chief denied rumors that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun would be elected president if ex-PM Saad Hariri, who leads al-Mustaqbal movement, gave his consent.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday, in his first official visit abroad since the formation of his cabinet in February.

Salam is expected to meet with Saudi King Abdullah and several top Saudi officials.

Health authorities in Saudi Arabia on Thursday announced the deaths of another three people from the MERS respiratory virus, taking the country's toll to 160.

The health ministry's daily bulletin on the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in the Gulf nation said the latest people to die were two women aged 72 and 54 and a 63-year-old man.

Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged Saudi Arabia to free two citizens held without trial for two years after converting to an offshoot of Islam  banned in the conservative Sunni kingdom.

Sultan al-Anzi, aged 33, and Saud al-Anzi, 35, were arrested and jailed in May 2012, three months after joining the Ahmadiyya group and refusing to abandon their belief, New York-based HRW said.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Wednesday reshuffled top defense posts, removing the deputy minister and the chief of staff, state news agency SPA reported.

He also appointed his son Prince Turki as governor of Riyadh region, SPA said.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has discussed with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal the presidential deadlock as al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri intensified his meetings to avoid a vacuum, An Nahar daily reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said that Bassil held long discussions with al-Faisal on Tuesday, which required him to stay another day in Riyadh.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri and Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon announced on Wednesday that the kingdom lifted a travel ban to Lebanon after the security situation improved in the country.

Asiri in remarks to OTV said that the kingdom lifted the travel advisory issued against Lebanon.

Syria welcomed Wednesday the resignation of U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, as hopes for a resumption of peace talks dimmed ahead of a controversial election expected to return President Bashar Assad to office.

Damascus accused Brahimi, who announced on Tuesday that he will step down on May 31, of bias and interference in its internal affairs after he criticized the planned election as a blow to peace efforts.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince called Wednesday for stronger military cooperation between the United States and the Arab monarchies of the Gulf whose security he said was under threat.

Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, who also holds the defense portfolio, made the remarks at a meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah between U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.