Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani called on Monday for the election of a president and for holding parliamentary polls after agreeing on an electoral law that represents all sides.

“Lebanon's politicians have been seduced by arrogance and unilateralism in everything,” Qabbani said in his Eid al-Fitr sermon at Mohammed al-Amin mosque in downtown Beirut.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Sunday ruled out a role for Hizbullah in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian groups, urging an end to the Israeli “aggressiveness” and “hegemony” in the region.

“If we can put an end to Israeli hegemony and to Israeli aggressiveness in this region, we will put an end to many violence in this region and if we cannot do that, violence will prevail,” Salam said in English in an interview on CNN.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani has announced that tomorrow, Monday is the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, as Shiite religious authorities said Eid begins Tuesday.

“We have verified according to the rules of Sharia that (tomorrow,) Monday, July 28, 2014 A.D. is the first day of (the lunar Islamic month of) Shawwal 1435 A.H., and accordingly tomorrow, Monday is the first day of Eid al-Fitr,” Qabbani, who heads Lebanon's highest Sunni Muslim religious authority Dar al-Fatwa, announced in a statement.

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.