The Change and Reform bloc urged the army on Tuesday to finish its battle with extremist groups along the eastern border, saying it should bolster its positions and put an end to the infiltrations of terrorists.

Former Minister Salim Jreissati said at the end of the bloc's weekly meeting: “We call for cooperation between the Lebanese and Syrian armies to achieve this goal.”

U.S. President Barack Obama led a heavyweight delegation to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet new King Salman and shore up ties that have suffered in recent years.

The longstanding allies remain bound by shared interests in regional stability and oil.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday beheaded two more of its citizens and a Pakistani, continuing the strictest punishment under new King Salman.

Omar bin Yahya bin Ibrahim al-Barkati was tried and convicted of incest, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

World oil prices have fallen too far, the president of state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco said Tuesday, stressing it was for the market not OPEC producers to shore them up.

"It's too low for everybody," Khalid al-Falih told a conference.

Saudi Arabia on Monday postponed its biggest national cultural festival, an event developed by the late King Abdullah, after his death last week.

The Janadriyah festival was to be held on February 4-22, with a special guest pavilion from Germany.

The Kataeb Party called Monday for controlling the border and declaring the eastern border region a "military zone" as it urged the Lebanese parties to speed up the ongoing dialogues in order to elect a president.

In a statement issued after the weekly meeting of its political bureau, Kataeb expressed its “confidence in the Lebanese Army and its role in defending its citizens and land, as well as its pride in the unity among Lebanese every time the country is facing a dangerous test.”

Saudi Arabia on Monday beheaded a serial child rapist, in the first execution since King Salman's rise to the throne in the conservative Muslim monarchy, official media said.

"Mousa bin Saeed Ali al-Zahrani lured several underage girls and kidnapped them. He also threatened them and their relatives and physically assaulted them in his home," the Saudi Press Agency said, citing the interior ministry.

New Saudi King Salman is expected to use President Barack Obama's stopover on Tuesday to push for greater U.S. involvement in resolving Middle East crises, analysts say.

Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle, is cutting short a visit to India to convey his condolences after the death of ailing King Abdullah last Friday.

Saudi Arabia's new leadership will push forward efforts to diversify the growing but oil-dependent economy, while easing procedures for investors, senior officials said on Monday.

"The smooth transition of power to King Salman is a testament of the stability and the commitment that our leadership has," Abdullatif al-Othman, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), told a conference.

Yemen's powerful Shiite militia blocked access to Sanaa University on Monday as opponents to their takeover of the capital called for more demonstrations against their tightening grip on Sanaa.

The militiamen, known as Huthis, set up barriers along roads leading to Change Square just outside the university, a hotbed of opposition, witnesses and activists said.