Lebanese mobs attacked buses and cars carrying Syrian expatriates and refugees heading to the Syrian embassy in Baabda on Thursday, protesting against what they said was an organized vote for President Bashar Assad.

Scattered mobs of anti-Syrian Lebanese, most of them from the Lebanese Forces party, waited for convoys of cars and buses carrying Syrian voters at intersections in Beirut, outside the capital and in the eastern Bekaa region. They pelted them with rocks and smashed windows with sticks. In one incident near Nahr el-Kalb on the highway north of Beirut, one attacker poked a wooden stick inside the car, poking the driver as others smashed the windshield.

Germany's top diplomat Heiko Maas said he stood with Israel as he visited Thursday, and called for a ceasefire between the Jewish state and the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers Hamas.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday suggested that Lebanon-based Syrians who vote Thursday for President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian presidential elections must “leave” the country “immediately.”

“It seems that tens of thousands of displaced Syrians in Lebanon are readying to take part tomorrow in the farce-tragedy called Syrian presidential elections at the headquarters of the Syrian embassy in Hazmieh,” Geagea said in a statement.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday signed a decree appointing caretaker Defense Minister Zeina Akar as acting Foreign Minister, hours after the resignation of caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe over remarks that sparked a diplomatic storm with the Gulf countries.

Aoun asked Akar -- who is also deputy prime minister -- "to proceed with her duties as acting foreign minister" as well as her original portfolio.

Lebanese security officials said several rockets were fired Wednesday from south Lebanon toward Israel, the third such barrage in the past week.

The Israeli military said it identified four rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. One landed in an open area, two landed in the sea, and one was intercepted by aerial defenses. Residents of the city of Shfaram, east of Haifa, said one rocket landed near the town.

The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) met in Beirut on ًWednesday to take stock of the situation in the country, a press release said.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Walid al-Bukhari on Wednesday affirmed in a chat with journalists that everything being said about Saudi Arabia’s endeavors to deport Lebanese nationals from its territories against the backdrop of its minister's remarks were “absolutely unfounded.

The German government said Wednesday it is banning three groups close to Hizbullah, the Lebanese movement that opposes Israel, against the backdrop of the current military escalation in the Middle East.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down from office after insulting remarks he made against Saud Arabia and Gulf countries.

“I asked to be relieved of my duties and responsibilities as a foreign minister in the caretaker government,” announced Wehbe after meeting President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace.

Lebanese officials flocked to meet Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari on Wednesday in a stand of solidarity, following televised remarks by Lebanon’s caretaker foreign minister, in which he suggested Gulf countries provided backing to extremists.