The United States Embassy in Lebanon denied on Sunday a report saying that Washington had filed an official complaint to the Lebanese government for attempting to strike a deal with Russia on supplying the army with used T-72 tanks.

The embassy stressed in comments to Naharnet that “the report is false.”

The United States has reportedly questioned Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri's decision to “diversify” the number of countries from which to obtain weapons as part of the Saudi military grant to the army, said As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

Widely informed sources told daily that the U.S. filed an official complaint to the Lebanese government, the army command in particular, for attempting to strike a deal with Russia on supplying the army with used T-72 tanks.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged Saudi authorities Friday to drop charges against dissidents jailed in recent months over their Internet activity.

The latest sentence was handed down to prominent human rights activist, Mikhlif al-Shammari, who was jailed for two years by a special criminal court on November 3 and given 200 lashes.

British Ambassador Tom Fletcher has said that the election of a new president in Lebanon does not require the involvement of other countries, expressing disappointment at the failure of MPs to choose a head of state and warning of its dire consequences.

The constitution is clear in terms of the election of a new head of state, Fletcher told As Safir daily in an interview published on Friday.

A Pakistani convicted of smuggling heroin became Thursday the seventh person from his country beheaded over the past month in Saudi Arabia for drug trafficking.

The execution of Niyaz Mohammed Ghulam Mohammed was carried out in Riyadh after he was "tried and found guilty of attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin," the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

A French delegation is expected to visit Beirut this week for further talks with the Lebanese army command on the purchase of French weapons under a Saudi grant.

France and Saudi Arabia signed the agreement last week for Paris to provide the Lebanese military with the $3 billion worth of weapons paid for by Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday beheaded a convicted drug trafficker, the interior ministry announced, bringing to 66 the number of executions this year despite international concerns.

Mohammed bin Abd al-Ghani bin Hassan al-Khatir, a Saudi, "was caught smuggling a large quantity of drugs in the form of pills into the kingdom, inside his luggage," the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing the ministry.

Arab leaders in the Gulf could hold a special meeting to resolve differences within their ranks ahead of a scheduled annual summit in Qatar next month, newspapers said Wednesday.

According to Kuwaiti daily Al-Anbaa, consultations are underway to convene an informal meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders before their December 9-10 summit in Doha.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday transferred the deputy governor of the kingdom's Eastern Province, in the aftermath of an unprecedented attack against minority Shiites in the region.

A royal decree "decided to relieve Emir Jalwi bin Abdulaziz bin Musaid al-Saud" from his post and transfer him to Najran region bordering Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency reported without further explanation.

Iraqi President Fuad Masum's visit to Saudi Arabia is aimed at patching up long-strained relations between the two countries as Baghdad battles jihadist militants, a senior official said Wednesday.

Masum arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and met with King Abdullah, the highest-level contact between the neighboring countries in years.