Rulers of the Arab states of the Gulf, where aging monarchs retain power, congratulated Qatar's new young emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, whose father abdicated in his favor on Tuesday.

At the age of 33, Sheikh Tamim becomes the youngest ever sovereign in the Gulf Arab monarchies.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in hopes of coordinating support for Syria's rebels amid fears that a prolonged civil war will embolden extremists.

Kerry was to spend several hours in the western city of Jeddah consulting with the leadership of the oil-rich Sunni Muslim monarchy, which has been outspoken in its opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Saudi Arabia on Monday beheaded two Pakistani men convicted of armed robbery, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

The execution in the western city of Jeddah came after the two men admitted to having set up a gang to rob bank customers at gunpoint, the report said.

Saudi Arabia on Monday voiced “extreme concern” over the deadly clashes in the southern port city of Sidon between the Lebanese army and gunmen loyal to Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.

In a statement recited by Saudi Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja – the former ambassador to Lebanon – after cabinet's weekly meeting under the chairmanship of King Abdullah, Riyadh “expressed extreme concern over the development of the situations in southern Lebanon and the clashes in the city of Sidon.”

Human Rights Watch on Sunday criticized Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system after a court sentenced a prominent human rights activist to five years in prison over his writings.

Saudi Arabia's Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Mikhlif al-Shammari to five years in prison on June 17, "based on his writings and exposure of human rights abuses," said the New York-based watchdog.

Saudi police have killed a man who fled when they tried to arrest him for allegedly taking part in unrest that shook the kingdom's Shiite-populated Eastern Province last year, a report said Sunday.

Security forces tracked down Morsi Ali Ibrahim Al-Rabah, "who was involved in criminal acts that targeted Saudi nationals and citizens of his village", the official SPA news agency reported, quoting an interior ministry spokesman.

A young man died on Saturday in Saudi Arabia's restive Shiite-populated region of Qatif, police said, saying he had been found in his car after unknown gunmen opened fire at patrolmen in the area.

The man, who was not immediately identified, died on his way to hospital, the official SPA news agency reported a police official as saying.

Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour and Taymour Jumblat are likely to travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with the head of the Saudi intelligence and ex-Premier Saad Hariri, a well-informed official said Saturday.

The official told As Safir daily that the meeting of Abu Faour and Jumblat with Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Hariri, who is also the head of al-Mustaqbal movement, would come amid a new proposal to give the March 14 alliance eight ministers in the new cabinet along with a ninth minister, who would also be part of the share of centrists.

People in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province have again started greeting friends with the traditional kiss on the cheek, and face masks in public are becoming rarer, as panic subsides over the outbreak of a deadly respiratory disease that hit the country last year.

"We continue to kiss each other when we meet relatives and friends, and we organise evenings without wearing masks or taking any precautionary measures," said Badr Abdullah, as he bought groceries at a shopping centre in Al-Hufuf, the main city in Al-Ahsa governorate.

Iran's newly-elected president Hassan Rowhani declared on Monday that his incoming government will seek to improve ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia, tarnished over differences about Syria's civil war.

"The priority of my government is to strengthen relations with neighbors... the countries of the Persian Gulf and Arab ones that are of strategic importance and our brothers," said Rowhani.