Saudi authorities beheaded a Syrian on Monday after he was convicted of smuggling drugs into the kingdom, the interior ministry said.

Ali Derbalah was arrested as he was "smuggling a large amount of banned pills into the kingdom," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. It did not specify the type of pills he was accused of smuggling.

Four people have died from the MERS virus in Saudi Arabia, bringing the death toll from the SARS-like virus in the kingdom to 32, the health ministry said on its website Monday.

Two people died in the western city of Taif and the other two were pronounced dead in Eastern Province, where most cases have been registered, said the statement.

Saudi King Abdullah on Sunday congratulated moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani on his election as the new president of the Iran, the kingdom's Shiite rival across the Gulf.

"We are glad to congratulate you in the name of the people and government of Saudi Arabia... wishing prosperity to the people of the brotherly Islamic republic of Iran," King Abdullah told Rowhani in a letter carried by the official SPA news agency.

Saudi Arabia plans to supply the Syrian opposition with anti-aircraft missiles to counter President Bashar Assad's air force, German news weekly Der Spiegel reported Sunday.

The article, citing a classified report received by the German foreign intelligence service and the German government last week, said Riyadh was looking at sending European-made Mistral-class MANPADS, or man-portable air-defense systems.

Saudi Arabia has cut back the number of pilgrims that may perform the hajj this year due to construction work aimed at expanding the holy site of Mecca, the hajj minister said.

The authorities had decided to reduce by half the number of pilgrims coming from within Saudi Arabia, and by about 20 percent those from abroad, said Bandar Hajjar.

Leaders of Gulf states, which have tense relations with Iran, have swiftly welcomed moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani's election as the new president of the Islamic republic, several state news agencies said.

"We look forward to working together for the good of this region and the Emirati and Iranian peoples," the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan wrote in a telegram to Rowhani, state news agency WAM said late Saturday.

A Saudi court handed two Saudi women 10-month jail sentences on Saturday for seeking to help a Canadian woman who wanted to leave her Saudi husband with their children, human rights activists said.

The court also banned Fawzia al-Ayuni and Wajiha al-Huaider from leaving the kingdom for two years, rights activist Aql al-Bahli said.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz cut short his vacation in Morocco and decided to return to the kingdom on Thursday evening.

The monarch and his entourage have already left Morocco, according to information obtained by Naharnet.

Saudi authorities beheaded on Tuesday a Syrian man convicted of trying to smuggle narcotics into the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said.

Hussam al-Rjoob had attempted to "smuggle a large amount of narcotic tablets," the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal discussed with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius on Monday the current situation in Syria, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported.

The newspaper said Tuesday that the meeting, which was held in Paris, was attended by the head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.