The Lebanese expat community in Sydney has played a role in forcing a top state government official to resign after he made controversial public comments in support of Israel's deadly assault on the Gaza Strip.

“The Lebanese and Arab expat communities in Sydney have managed to push Vic Alhadeff, a high-ranking government official, to resign, after he voiced support for Israel,” Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has discussed with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat the need to elect a president as soon as possible and boost coordination among security agencies, both parties announced on Sunday.

The two leaders held their meeting in the presence of Wafiq Safa, head of Hizbullah's Liaison and Coordination Unit, according to a joint statement issued after the talks.

A Lebanese national was severely wounded in the ongoing battles along the border with Syria, the state-run National News Agency reported.

According to NNA, 20-year-old Mohammed Omar Awdeh was seriously injured in the outskirts of the eastern border town of Arsal.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi expressed belief on Sunday that the political powers should elect a consensual president who is not affiliated to March 8 or 14 alliances and considered not provocative.

“As long as the March 14 coalition will not allow the March 8 candidate to reach the presidential post and vise versa, then we should choose a head of state not affiliated to both alliances,” al-Rahi said during Sunday's sermon in his summer seat of Diman.

The obscure group known as the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade threatened on Sunday to target Maj. Suzan al-Hajj, chief of the Internal Security Forces' Cyber Crime and Intellectual Property Protection bureau.

The shadowy group urged al-Hajj in a tweet using a new account on Twitter to reconsider her tactics and “stop meddling with fire.”

An official Lebanese delegation headed on Sunday to Paris en rout to Mali to follow up the probe into the Air Algerie plane that crashed three-days ago and to carry out the necessary procedures to identify the bodies of the Lebanese victims.

Haitham Jomaa,director general of the emigrants dept. at Lebanon's foreign ministry, chaired a delegation to follow up the probe into the crash of the McDonnell Douglas 83, which crashed over Mali on Thursday.

A Syrian national was released on Sunday in al-Hillanyieh in the Bekaa region after a five-day kidnap ordeal.

No ransom was paid for the kidnappers in exchange for the release of Abdul Karim Ali, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun will reportedly propose an indirect initiative where he would “give up his right” to become a president in return for the adoption of a new electoral law that better represents Christians.

According to the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Sunday, Aoun's circles said that he informed the concerned parties that he “is not clinging to the presidential post” as long as there would be an agreement of a new electoral law.

Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel stressed on Sunday that the parties that are hindering the presidential elections and obstructing the state are well-known, pointing out that any decision to run for presidency will be announced after consultations with allies.

“Those behind the (presidential) conspiracy are known and the Lebanese know the parties that are causing lack of quorum,” Gemayel said in comment published in the Kuwaiti Seyassah newspaper.

Army troops arrested on Saturday a Syrian national in the Bekaa town of Brital, and seized several cars and ammunition during raids in the area.

"An army force raided the houses of fugitives wanted for their involvement in different types of crimes in Brital, and managed to arrest Syrian national Mohammed Bashir Qarii,” the military institution said in a communique.