The Egyptian army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday after a week of bloodshed that killed nearly 50 people as millions took to the streets to demand an end to his turbulent single year of rule.

The announcement, made on state television by Morsi's own defense minister, armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, drew a rapturous welcome from the protesters who have camped out on the streets of Cairo for days.

A top aide to Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi slammed what he called a "military coup" on Wednesday as an army ultimatum passed and the security forces slapped a travel ban on the Islamist leader.

"For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let's call what is happening by its real name: Military coup," Essam al-Haddad, Morsi's national security adviser, said in a statement on Facebook.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday ruled out an imminent formation of a new cabinet as he slammed the performance of the parliament.

“Nothing indicates that the cabinet will be formed soon and everyone is saying it may be formed in September or when the (parliament's) 17-month extension period ends,” Aoun told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabiyeh.

Gulf Cooperation Council's foreign ministers warned late Saturday that Hizbullah's continued involvement in the Syrian war was threatening the Geneva peace conference.

Following a consultative meeting they held in Manama, the ministers condemned in a statement “the continued involvement of Hizbullah's militias” in Syria.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Friday rejected what he called “selectivity” in putting draft laws on parliament's agenda, stressing that extending the term of Army chief General Jean Qahwaji would be illegal and not an appropriate way to “reward” the army after the Abra battle.

“Urgent draft laws were disregarded and not put on the agenda of parliament's session, although they have the priority,” Aoun said after an extraordinary meeting for the Change and Reform bloc.

The army on Thursday handed over a group of soldiers accused of abusing a detainee to the military police for questioning, a military source and the state-run National News Agency said.

The move came after amateur video emerged showing a group of soldiers humiliating, beating and kicking a man suspected of supporting a Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir whose men fought troops near the southern city of Sidon.

Hizbullah vacated several apartments in the area of Abra in the southern city of Sidon, handing them over to the Lebanese army, three days after gunbattles turned the city into a battle zone.

The apartments, which lie meters from the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque compound in which Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir was a preacher, were one of the main reason for the fierce campaign launched by him against Hizbullah.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Tuesday that extending the term of the Army Commander "must not be the price for the troops' sacrifice" in the clashes of the southern city of Sidon.

"The army's sacrifice must not be a price for extending Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji's term especially that we are against extension in general,” Aoun said after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc, in response to former premier Saad Hariri's suggestion.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji inspected on Tuesday military units in the southern city of Sidon as security forces launched a major manhunt for radical Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.

In the coastal city meanwhile, the army worked to consolidate its control, after troops overran Asir's headquarters on Monday afternoon.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Bahia Hariri stated on Sunday the clashes in the southern city of Sidon between the gunmen of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and the army “aimed at stirring a premeditated sedition.”

“Today we are counting on the army more than ever and these clashes are aimed at stirring a premeditated sedition,” Hariri said in a phone call with Future television.