Al-Manar television director general Abdullah Qassir has confirmed that the Hizbullah-owned TV network has apologized to Bahrain over its coverage of the Shiite-led protests in the Gulf kingdom, LBCI and al-Jadeed reported on Sunday.

LBCI quoted sources informed on the ongoing meetings of the Arab League-affiliated Arab States Broadcasting Union as saying that “the apology came as a compromise, after Bahrain demanded expelling the Lebanese Communication Group (parent company of al-Manar and al-Nour) from the ASBU.”

A top military commander of Hizbullah died in fighting Sunday in Syria, a Lebanese security source said.

"Ali Bazzi, a high-ranking Hizbullah military commander, was killed today in a combat zone," the source said without specifying the location.

Hizbullah's al-Manar television on Sunday broadcast a video showing four booby-trapped vehicles seized by the Syrian army in the key town of Nabuk, one of the last rebel-held areas in the Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon.

Al-Manar said the explosive-rigged vehicles were prepared to be used in bomb attacks in Lebanon.

Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil welcomed on Sunday a proposal for lawmakers not to boycott parliamentary sessions on the presidential elections on condition there is prior agreement on a “strong” president.

President Michel Suleiman appealed on Saturday for MPs “to assume their responsibilities and not to deny the trust given to them by the people by guaranteeing a quorum for parliamentary sessions and avoiding the danger of a presidential vacuum.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged the international community on Sunday to work for the release of two bishops kidnapped in Syria and a group of nuns recently taken hostage in the war-ravaged country.

During his sermon in Bkirki, al-Rahi expressed regret that the Greek Orthodox nuns had been “assaulted.”

A Jordanian was killed and three others injured in a car crash in Harissa, north of Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported on Sunday.

NNA said the rented Kia Picanto that they were driving skidded on the main Harissa road near the entrance of the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki.

The Lebanese army arrested overnight three Syrians carrying light arms and communication devices trying to cross the border through an illegal crossing in the Bekaa Valley, the state-run National News agency reported Sunday.

NNA said the three men were arrested when trying to infiltrate from the northeastern border town of Arsal to the Syrian town of Qara.

Scores of Saudi students were transferred from Lebanon to study in the U.S. and other countries after the deteriorating security situation in the country, the Saudi al-Yaum daily reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said that around 45 students, who were studying in Lebanese universities, have traveled to the U.S., the UK and Australia to continue their education there.

The international community is expected to exert stronger efforts to pressure Lebanese officials into forming a new government and preventing a vacuum in the presidency, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Sunday.

Al-Hayat said that President Michel Suleiman has been contacting the members of The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) to take “practical measures” for its push to avoid a vacuum in Lebanese institutions.

Top political and religious officials are pressing for the attendance of Christian lawmakers of parliamentary sessions to elect a new president next year as incumbent Michel Suleiman is expected to exert stronger efforts to prevent a vacuum, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Sunday.

Informed sources told al-Hayat that several politicians and the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki are seeking to convince Christian MPs to attend the sessions that start on March 25 – the 60-day deadline that the Constitution sets for the election of a president.