Hizbullah and Progressive Socialist Party officials have agreed on the need to speed up the formation of a national unity cabinet and pushed for a deal to keep the differences on the Syrian crisis away from the streets, sources said Thursday.

The sources told As Safir daily that a meeting was held on Wednesday night at the residence of Hizbullah Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan between PSP officials and the party's representatives.

The General Science (SG) and Life Science (SV) secondary school official exam results were released on Wednesday.

They can be checked on the following page: http://www.naharnet.com/exam

Hizbullah on Wednesday condemned the “terrorist and heinous” assassination of prominent Syrian pro-regime figure Mohammed Darrar Jammo in southern Lebanon, a Hizbullah stronghold.

The party said the incident “increases the belief that the criminal hand that is committing massacres in Syria does not differentiate between those fighting in the battlefield and those struggling through their words and stance, the thing that exposes the inability of the killers to confront an argument with a counter-argument.”

Speaker Nabih Berri questioned on Wednesday the “suspicious campaign” directed against the army, as a report said the speaker is planning to resolve the vacuum in the army chief's post by a decree that calls for the postponement of Gen. Jean Qahwaji's retirement date for a limited period.

“What is the purpose of criticizing the military institution at a time when the country is in great need of its role in maintaining security and stability?” Berri asked during his weekly meeting with lawmakers at his Ain el-Tineh residence.

National Ayman Rayed, who hails from the Bekaa town of Arsal, was released on Wednesday by his kidnappers due to the efforts exerted by the Lebanese army.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the army has erected checkpoints on main and side roads forcing the abductors to free Rayed.

Gunmen have assassinated a prominent Syrian pro-government figure at his home in southern Lebanon, state-run media in Damascus and Lebanese security officials said Wednesday.

The SANA news agency said Mohammed Darrar Jammo was gunned down by "terrorists" outside his home in the southern coastal town of Sarafand.

Speaker Nabih Berri is reportedly planning to resolve the vacuum in the army chief's post by a decree that calls for the postponement of Gen. Jean Qahwaji's retirement date for a limited period.

As Safir daily said Wednesday that the decree would be signed by President Michel Suleiman, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and the caretaker ministers of defense and finance.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly stressed on Wednesday that the best way to safeguard Lebanon’s stability during this period was through reinforcing and respecting Lebanon’s state institutions.

He said: “In this context the delay in forming a new government is a matter of concern.”

Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea stated on Wednesday that appointing a new army commander is the best solution to the controversial issue of extending the tenure of military chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji, and accused Hizbullah party of taking unilateral strategic decisions, the As-Safir daily reported.

“Hizbullah party takes unilateral strategic decisions, which they later burden us with and ask for a cover through a political cabinet,” said Geagea.

A year after an anti-Israeli bus bombing killed six people, Bulgaria is struggling to identify the attacker or confirm his suspected links to Hizbullah or Iran.

The July 18, 2012, bombing at Bulgaria's Black Sea Burgas airport was the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004 and the first in a EU member state.