Saudi authorities executed a Yemeni in Mecca Wednesday after he was convicted of murdering a fellow countryman, the interior ministry said.

Hosni Tawhal had been accused of stabbing Saghr Sulaia to death, the ministry said, quoted by state news agency SPA.

The intelligence chief for the southern Yemeni city of Aden and his son were gunned down in their car Wednesday in a suspected al-Qaida hit, a security source said.

The official said Colonel Ali Hadi came under fire at the wheel of his car from gunmen in another vehicle. His son died on the spot while he died of his wounds in hospital.

Egyptian forces overnight arrested two more Muslim Brotherhood officials, a top preacher and a spokesman for the group, military and security sources told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

Preacher Safwat Hegazy was arrested close to Egypt's border with Libya in the west of the country, a military source said.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday urged world support for the bid by Egypt's interim government to achieve "stability" in the country, and not to hamper its efforts.

"We expect the international community to support the efforts of Egypt's government in its bid to achieve what we all aspire for -- security, stability, and prosperity," Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told Agence France Presse.

Bloodbath in Egypt, civil war in Syria, stalemate in Tunisia: the Arab Spring has stoked turmoil because of a lack of maturity among the region's new political class, analysts say.

When popular uprisings swept away long-standing dictators in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia in 2011, hopes were running high for a smooth transition and a fresh start.

Syria's main opposition group accused the government of "massacring" more than 1,300 people in chemical weapons attacks near Damascus on Wednesday, saying many of the victims choked to death.

The accusation came as a team of U.N. inspectors was in Syria to probe previous allegations of chemical weapons strikes leveled against both sides during the 29-month conflict.

Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak will face a new court hearing on Wednesday during which his lawyer will seek his release from prison, judicial sources said.

The hearing is the fourth and final case against the long-time president, who was toppled in a popular uprising in February 2011.

Four officials placed on administrative leave during a probe into the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, can return to work, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.

The September 11 attack left four people dead, including ambassador Chris Stevens, and caused a political storm between U.S. President Barack Obama's administration and his Republican opponents.

The United States has reopened its embassy in Yemen, the State Department said Tuesday, two weeks after it closed for fear of an al-Qaida attack.

A statement said that the embassy in Sanaa had "re-opened to provide limited public services" on Sunday.

Egypt's interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in an interview Tuesday it would be a mistake if the United States cut off military aid but insisted Cairo could survive without it.

A possible move by Washington to stop U.S. weapons deliveries and other assistance to Egypt "will be a bad sign and will badly affect the military for some time," Beblawi told ABC News.