Iran and Hizbullah, are trying to build a network of militias inside Syria to protect their interests there in case President Bashar Assad falls, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.

Citing unnamed U.S. and Middle Eastern officials, the newspaper said Iran's goal appears to be to have reliable operatives in Syria in case the country fractures into ethnic and sectarian enclaves.

Several tense confrontations have broken out in the past week between residents of largely rebel-held northwestern Syria and hardline Islamist insurgents, witnesses said on Sunday.

A number of such altercations took place around Atme in Idlib province, where the residents generally support the hardline al-Nusra Front group, who are spearheading attacks against forces of President Bashar Assad.

Hizbullah noted Sunday that “those providing political cover for opposition fighters in Syria are the same ones who are providing political cover for those who killed army troops in Arsal,” adding that “providing cover for Syrian gunmen in Lebanese territory is a continuous crime against the country and Syria.”

In a speech he delivered at a memorial service in the southern town of Qabrikha, deputy head of Hizbullah's Executive Council Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said “Israel does not dare to wage any aggression against Lebanon because it cannot afford to bear the equations and surprises of the resistance."

Syrian rebels launched fierce assaults on regime troops in several parts of the country Sunday, including near Deir Ezzor where they used tanks to shell an army brigade, a watchdog and activists said.

The rebels used tanks to shell Brigade 113 just north of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, which they have surrounded for weeks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Iran's nuclear ambitions, Syria and the peace process with the Palestinians will top U.S. President Barack Obama's agenda on his upcoming visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Last week, the White House said Obama would make his first visit to Israel as president on a trip likely to take place next month. It would also include stops in the Palestinian territories and Jordan.

Batroun MP Butros Harb expressed fears on Sunday that the Assad regime would use the pastoral visit of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to Damascus to meet political objectives.

“It's a pastoral visit made by the patriarch with the aim of consolidating Maronite-Orthodox cooperation,” Harb said.

Greek Orthodox leader Youhanna X Yazigi was on Sunday enthroned in Damascus during a ceremony that was attended by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and the Syrian deputy foreign minister.

The ceremony took place at the Church of the Holy Cross in Qassaa, a central neighborhood of the conflict-hit Syrian capital.

President Michel Suleiman expressed support on Saturday for Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi's expected visit to Syria.

The president called against “politicizing” al-Rahi's visit as it shouldn't be take out of its context.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has changed seven ministers in his cabinet, the official SANA news agency reported on Saturday, without saying why. None of the key portfolios was affected.

The agency said Assad had decided to split the ministry of labor and social affairs into two, and brought in a woman, Kinda Shmat, to head the latter. Hassan Hijazi becomes labor minister.

Syrian warplanes launched air strikes within the Menegh military airbase in the northern province of Aleppo on Saturday after rebels stormed parts of the regime garrison, a watchdog said.

The fierce retaliation came after the insurgents, who have been attacking the base daily for months, succeeded in breaking into several areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.