The West's policies on Iran and Syria are a "dangerous gamble" and Saudi Arabia is prepared to act on its own to safeguard security in the region, a top Saudi diplomat said Tuesday.

"We believe that many of the West's policies on both Iran and Syria risk the stability and security of the Middle East," the Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, wrote in a commentary in the New York Times.

Two Saudi inmates from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have arrived in their home country following a U.S. transfer, authorities in Riyadh said on Tuesday.

Saad Muhammad Husayn Qahtani and Hamood Abdulla Hamood al-Enzi will go through a Saudi rehabilitation process, known as the Counselling Programme, interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said.

Saudi authorities on Tuesday beheaded a Syrian man convicted of smuggling drugs to the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said.

Syrian national Hasan Mahmud al-Bash was executed in the northern province of Jawf, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Within their female-only campuses, women at Saudi Arabia's universities let loose. Trendy sneakers, colorful tops, a myriad of hairstyles. Some experiment with bleach blonde or even dip-dyed blue hair. The more adventurous ones have cropped their hair into short buzzes.

In their bags, the textbooks vary, but one item is mandatory: a floor-length black abaya robe that each must cover herself with when she steps through the university gates back to the outside world of the kingdom.

The Pentagon said Monday the United States had transferred two Guantanamo detainees to Saudi Arabia, bringing the total number of inmates remaining at the U.S. prison in Cuba to 160.

After a "comprehensive review" of their cases, Saad Muhammad Husayn Qahtani and Hamood Abdulla Hamood were "designated for transfer by consensus of the six departments and agencies comprising the task force," said a statement by Pentagon spokesman Todd Breasseale.

Democracy activists on Monday urged the Gulf Arab monarchies to undertake wide-ranging political reforms including the establishment of elected parliaments and constitutions and allowing political parties.

"The Gulf people should be allowed to elect their representatives in a democratic way and through a direct ballot," said the liberal Gulf Forum for Civil Societies.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday that the moderate opposition to the Syrian regime is in "serious difficulty" and that long-delayed peace talks aimed at ending the crisis are in trouble.

"On Syria, I'm unfortunately rather pessimistic," Fabius said.

Saudi users of Internet messenger application Viber reported on Saturday that the service was back on their smartphones, despite the authorities insisting it was still banned.

The absolute monarchy, which imposes strict Internet censorship, banned the service in June after Viber failed to comply with unspecified regulations.

Iran and Saudi Arabia, which back opposite sides in Syria's war, are among more than 30 countries slated to attend a peace conference next month, diplomats said.

The so-called Geneva 2 conference, a follow-up to a 2012 meeting, is aimed at mapping out a political transition to end nearly three years of fighting that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced millions.

Saudi Arabia's grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh branded suicide bombers as "criminals" who will go to "hell," Al-Hayat daily reported Thursday.

Suicide bombings are "great crimes" and bombers are "criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions," Sheikh said during a lecture in Riyadh a few days ago, according to Al-Hayat.