U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said it was up to Saudi Arabia to decide when the time was right to allow women to drive.

"It's no secret that in the United States of America we embrace equality for everybody regardless of gender, race, or any other qualification," Kerry said at a press conference in Riyadh.

Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Monday that U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia are "strategic and enduring", even as differences on Syria remained after a visit aimed at easing tension.

The top U.S. diplomat was hastily dispatched to Riyadh to patch things up after rare complaints from Riyadh over Washington's policies on Syria and Iran.

The United States expressed on Monday its rejection of allowing Hizbullah to determine the future of Lebanon.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a press conference he held in Riyadh that his talks with Saudi officials discussed the importance of not allowing Hizbullah to dominate Lebanon.

President Michel Suleiman is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia this week after he received assurances from Saudi officials that the “kingdom's doors are always open to him,” reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Monday.

Sources from the presidential palace told the daily: “The outcomes of the visit are expected to be positive because Saudi Arabia was the one who requested Suleiman's presence in the kingdom.”

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Saudi Arabia Sunday hoping to repair ties with America's longstanding ally, which have frayed over the Syrian conflict and U.S. outreach to Iran.

The top U.S. diplomat was already on his second stop of an 11-day trip which has become an exercise in damage control, as regional turbulence stirs tensions with longtime U.S. partners.

Top U.S. diplomat John Kerry traveled to Saudi Arabia on Sunday hoping to soothe tensions over Washington's refusal to intervene in Syria and its diplomatic overtures to Iran.

Relations with the longtime ally have been strained over U.S. reluctance to strike Syria or provide more aid to rebels there, as well as its tentative detente with Iran following the election of President Hassan Rouhani, a reputed moderate.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that Washington and its allies may differ over "tactics" on the Syrian conflict but they shared the goal of a handover of power.

The top U.S. diplomat was speaking at the start of an 11-day tour aimed at shoring up ties with Arab nations that have frayed in part over the war in Syria.

Saudi authorities on Sunday beheaded a citizen in the southern Najran province after he was convicted of killing another man, the interior ministry said.

Zafer al-Batheen shot dead Ayed al-Qashaneen using a machine gun, following a dispute between the two.

Inmates at a Saudi prison rioted overnight, torching offices before security forces quickly brought the situation under control in violence that left four people injured, officials said on Sunday.

The mutiny broke out late Saturday during weekly visiting hours at the jail in the northern city of Buraydah, the prisons authority spokesman told the official SPA news agency.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday his country is committed to working with Egypt's interim rulers, on his first visit to Cairo since the army ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

On the eve of the opening of Morsi's trial, Kerry was in Cairo to shore up ties with a key ally and ensure it moves ahead on plans to restore democracy just weeks after Washington suspended aid to the country.