Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri stressed on Tuesday the kingdom's “unwavering” support for Lebanon, saying that the country does not meddle in Lebanese affairs.

He said: “We urge political powers in Lebanon to resume dialogue in order to resolve disputes.”

A Saudi court sentenced 18 men, some of them foreigners, to jail terms of between seven months and 15 years on Monday after convicting them of fighting in foreign conflicts on behalf of Sunni Muslim extremist groups, state media reported.

The official SPA news agency did not specify which foreign conflicts they were found guilty of participating in but in recent months Saudi officials have expressed growing concern about Saudi volunteers fighting in the war in Syria, and Saudis have also been active in Iraq.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam said he has been informed that Saudi Arabia rejects the interference in his efforts to come up with a new government.

“The official Saudi stance that I have been informed of is the non-interference in the cabinet formation and leaving it to the wisdom of the Lebanese,” Salam told As Safir daily published Monday.

Human Rights Watch on Sunday urged the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to condemn a Saudi court decision sentencing seven cyber activists to up to 10 years in jail.

HRW's call came ahead of Sunday's meeting in Manama where Ashton is chairing a joint EU-Gulf Cooperation Council on how to boost cooperation between the two bodies.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri held on Saturday a dinner meeting with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at his residence in Rabieh, the Kuwaiti al-Rai daily reported.

The newspaper said Sunday that Asiri visited Aoun in a “remarkable step” after ties between the FPM chief and its ally Hizbullah had deteriorated.

Virologists are casting a worried eye on this year's Islamic hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia as they struggle with the enigmatic, deadly virus known as MERS which is striking hardest in the kingdom.

Little is known about the new pathogen, beyond the fact that it can be lethal by causing respiratory problems, pneumonia and kidney failure. It can be transmitted between humans, but unlike its cousin, the SARS virus, which sparked a scare a decade ago, it does not seem very contagious.

Russia accused Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf states on Thursday of funding "international terrorists and extremists" in the Syria conflict.

Moscow's angry statement came in response to accusations by Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, that Russia was responsible for mass killings in Syria because of its military support for the regime.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam has revealed that his cabinet formation efforts haven't yet made progress as reportedly an envoy of Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat returned from Saudi Arabia empty handed.

Salam told several local dailies published Thursday that strong efforts were being exerted in the cabinet formation process despite the lack of a solution so far.

Syria has lashed out at Saudi leaders, accusing them of being behind the country's more than two-year armed uprising, according to statements published on Wednesday.

"The violence in Syria is being caused by Saudi arms, Saudi money and terrorists linked to Saudi Arabia," said Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday pressed for global action to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, telling U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the civil war had turned into "genocide".

Kerry met leaders of the Sunni Arab monarchy as part of a regional tour in which he has called for greater support for Syria's rebels but stressed that the United States ultimately wanted a political solution that includes all sides.