Kuwait authorities arrested a former liberal cabinet minister as he attempted to leave the country Saturday, after being sentenced to a week in jail over an article criticizing the government, his lawyer said.

Saad al-Ajmi, information minister between 1999-2000, was detained at the airport as he, his wife and daughter were trying to leave for a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, Al-Humaidi al-Subaie said on Twitter.

Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah is scheduled to visit Beirut on Monday for talks with top officials, al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported.

The Kuwaiti FM is expected to discuss with the Lebanese officials issues of common interest linked to the latest developments in the Arab world and the region, the daily said on Saturday.

Authorities in Kuwait have detained a former liberal opposition lawmaker for allegedly insulting the Gulf state's ruler and criticizing a visit by the Egyptian president, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Prosecutors detained Saleh al-Mulla after questioning him on Tuesday night about comments made on Twitter, lawyer Abdullah al-Ahmad told Agence France Presse.

Kuwait said Tuesday that Syria's embassy had resumed consular services for some 140,000 Syrian nationals living in the Gulf state after closing nearly three years ago.

The embassy closed its doors after Kuwait joined other Gulf countries in expelling Syrian envoys in February 2012 amid tensions with President Bashar Assad's regime.

Kuwait's supreme court on Monday sentenced an opposition activist to 20 months in jail on charges of insulting the oil-rich emirate's ruler on Twitter.

Sager al-Hashash was handed a two-year prison term by a lower court in March 2013 but released by an appeals court which later reduced the sentence to one year.

A row over the recording of an Asian Cup warm-up game has affected Kuwait's preparations but the Gulf side still feel they can upset hosts Australia in Friday's tournament opener.

Their friendly against the United Arab Emirates at the weekend was abandoned as the teams lined up in the tunnel, after the UAE refused to allow Kuwait to record the game.

A U.S. Navy helicopter has crashed during a training mission in the Gulf state of Kuwait, slightly injuring three crew members, the Bahrain-based Naval Forces Central Command said on Monday.

The MH-60S helicopter went down on Sunday morning during the overland training flight at Camp Buehring in Kuwait, it said in a statement.

A Kuwaiti court has jailed three Arab supporters of the Islamic State jihadist group, in a first for the Gulf emirate, newspapers reported Friday.

The court sentenced a Kuwaiti to 10 years in jail for urging support for the group and also for insulting Kuwait's ruler in public.

Iraq can delay payment of a final $4.6 billion in war reparations for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait because of the difficulties it faces in battling the Islamic State insurgency, the U.N. said Thursday.

After holding a special session in Geneva, the governing body of the U.N. Compensation Commission (UNCC), which is handling the reparations, said "extraordinarily difficult security circumstances" in Iraq had presented "unusual budgetary challenges".

Denmark urged wealthy Gulf states Friday to honor their promises on funding humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees as a crucial U.N. food aid program was cut after running out of money.

Denmark, already a big donor, said it could help the U.N. program, which was supporting 1.7 million Syrian refugees, but it blasted Gulf states for not paying up.