Russian Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin revealed that Moscow decided to provide Lebanon with military assistance promised four years ago after it was encouraged by the Saudi grant to Lebanon.

“The Saudi grant was an incentive to revive the Russian grant and put it on the move,” Zasypkin told An Nahar newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea backed a decision by Lebanon to enter a U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State and criticized Hizbullah for rejecting the country's support of the efforts to destroy jihadists.

“I am totally with Lebanon becoming part of this Western-Arab coalition against IS … because Lebanon is one of the parties that would benefit from the destruction of this organization,” Geagea said in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper published on Tuesday.

A court in Saudi Arabia on Monday jailed 13 defendants for up to 10 years on charges including joining a radical Islamist group and fighting and supporting fighters abroad.

The 13 were part of a larger cell of 32 and were convicted of "following the Takfiri doctrine," a term usually used to refer to al-Qaida, the official SPA news agency said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted on Monday that Lebanon is carrying a “major burden” in combating terrorism, which should lead to providing it with proper military and logistic support.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “The West should not forget Lebanon in its plan to combat terrorism.”

Tehran ridiculed an international conference on the jihadist threat that opened in Paris on Monday, insisting the Islamic State cannot be defeated without the support of its ally Damascus.

Neither Iran nor Syria were invited to the meeting in the French capital, despite the Damascus government's involvement in almost daily military action against IS.

The head of the main Syrian opposition group in exile said Sunday he expected the support of the international community to press the fight against Damascus and Islamic State jihadists.

The United States is pushing for the formation of a broad international coalition to tackle IS which has captured swathes of Iraq and Syria, and has already secured the backing of 10 Arab states including Saudi Arabia.

Leaders of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood exiled in Qatar will leave the Gulf country after it came under enormous pressure to cut support for the Islamist group, a Brotherhood official said.

Amr Darrag, a leader of the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, said several members were relocating to "spare Qatar embarrassment", in a statement posted on his Facebook page late Friday.

Hizbullah criticized on Saturday Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil for broadly agreeing on a decision taken during a meeting in Jeddah to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State without highlighting Lebanon's role or having any reservations.

“I have informed Americans and all representatives present at the Jeddah meeting that we agree to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front and al-Qaida,” Bassil told As Safir newspaper.

The United States has delivered Hellfire missiles to the Lebanese army and will also provide it with light aircraft including an armed Cessna, the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon said Friday.

David Hale, in a statement after meeting Prime Minister Tammam Salam, said the aircraft would be bought with Saudi funds recently pledged to the Lebanese army.

A Saudi and an Iraqi convicted of murder and a Saudi convicted of drugs trafficking were beheaded in Riyadh on Friday, the interior ministry said.

Fahd al-Said and Iraqi Abderrahman al-Muaissab were found guilty of causing the death of Hossa bin Abid by breaking into her home, attacking her and tying her up so they could rob her, a ministry statement reported by state news agency SPA said.