Saudi police shot dead a man and wounded another during an exchange of fire in Qatif, a predominantly Shiite district in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, a newspaper reported on Friday.

A police patrol came under fire Thursday night from a group of "agitators who were burning tires near a police station in Qatif," al-Eqtisadiah newspaper said, citing a police spokesman.

UAE authorities on Wednesday announced busting a cell of Saudi and Emirati members plotting "terror" attacks in the two countries and other states.

The suspects "imported material and equipment with the aim of committing terror acts," said an official statement on WAM state news agency. The arrests came after coordination between security authorities in the two Gulf states.

Saudi King Abdullah left hospital on Thursday, nearly a month after undergoing back surgery, the royal court announced.

The 89-year-old monarch left the King Abdul Aziz Medical City in Riyadh on Thursday afternoon, the court said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Sunday that an August cyber attack on its computer network targeted not just the company but the kingdom's economy as a whole.

The interior ministry, which joined Aramco's investigation into the attack that affected some 30,000 of the firm's computers, said it was carried out by organized hackers from several different foreign countries.

Saudi authorities on Sunday beheaded a Pakistani in the Muslim holy city of Mecca for stabbing to death a compatriot, the interior ministry said.

Altaf Hussein Hati was found guilty of stabbing a man in the throat and leaving him to bleed to death, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks on Tuesday with a delegation from the Syrian National Coalition, headed by Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib.

Hariri stressed to the Syrian opposition head: “We will not back down from supporting the Syrian revolution no matter how great the challenges.”

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Tuesday received a delegation from the new Syrian opposition bloc, the National Coalition, headed by its chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

They discussed "developments in Syria and all ongoing international efforts on this matter."

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister urged on Tuesday the international community to have a unified position over Syria after the war-torn country's opposition formed a coalition last month.

"We see in forming the new Syrian coalition an important positive step towards uniting the opposition under one banner," Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters.

A Saudi F-15 fighter with only the pilot on board crashed into Gulf waters while on a training mission in the kingdom's Eastern Province, the defense ministry announced on Monday.

The plane fell into "Saudi territorial waters and the search for the pilot is still ongoing," the ministry said, adding that an investigation has been launched into the cause of the crash.

Saudi King Abdullah appeared on state television on Wednesday for the first time since he underwent a back operation on November 18.

The 89-year-old monarch was shown seated and receiving well-wishers at the King Abdul Aziz Medical City for the National Guard in the capital Riyadh.