The singing of a contract between France and Saudi Arabia to provide Lebanon with military assistance is being delayed over a political decision linked to the Lebanese presidential elections, Saudi sources said.

The sources told An Nahar newspaper published on Wednesday that it was up to Saudi King Abdullah to sign the contract but the delay was caused by a “political decision” linked to the outcome of the polls.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has been invited to the Gulf Cooperation Council's interior ministers' meeting scheduled to be held in Doha next week, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Al-Mashnouq will be the “guest of honor” in the meeting that would also be attended by five cabinet ministers from the GCC countries, the daily said.

Members of Saudi Arabia's religious police roughed up a British resident of Riyadh after they caught him paying at a women-only cash desk, local media reported on Monday.

Saudi Arabia imposes a strict interpretation of Islamic laws, notably a segregation of the sexes.

Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh on Tuesday blasted al-Qaida and Islamic State jihadists as "enemy number one" of Islam, in a statement issued in Riyadh.

"The ideas of extremism, radicalism and terrorism... have nothing to do with Islam and (their proponents) are the enemy number one of Islam," the kingdom's top cleric said.

Lebanese authorities deported to Riyadh two Saudi nationals based on a request by their country as another batch of detainees is expected to follow, a Saudi diplomat told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Wednesday.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri confirmed in remarks to the daily that the Lebanese state extradited Abdullah Ahmed Mohammed al-Bishi to Riyadh on Tuesday evening.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday, in his first official visit abroad since the formation of his cabinet in February.

Salam is expected to meet with Saudi King Abdullah and several top Saudi officials.

Hizbullah has informed Saudi Arabia that its candidate for the presidency is Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

The daily said that Riyadh has sent several messages to the party asking it whether it wanted the elections to be held anytime soon or whether it preferred vacuum.

Speaker Nabih Berri informed Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi that he will call for the first round of parliamentary sessions to elect a new president next week.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Saturday, Berri and al-Rahi discussed in a telephone conversation, ahead of the Patriarch's return from Geneva, the upcoming presidential elections.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora is in Riyadh to brief al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-Premier Saad Hariri on the results of consultations held in Beirut over the presidential elections.

An Nahar daily said Friday that Saniora was accompanied by Nader Hariri, the adviser of al-Mustaqbal movement leader.

The White House said Tuesday it is "very disappointed" that Saudi Arabia has denied a Jerusalem Post reporter's visa to cover President Barack Obama's visit to the kingdom later this week.

Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the White House made clear to the Saudis the importance that the reporter have access to cover the trip.