Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday called for “domestic efforts” and dialogue to elect a new president instead of awaiting the outcome of any Saudi-Iranian talks, stressing that Hizbullah has never raised the issue of tripartite power-sharing between Christians, Sunnis and Shiites.

“We extremely regret recent remarks accusing our camp, especially the Shiite duo, of seeking tripartite power-sharing, and someone is trying to say that we want a presidential void because we want to reach tripartite power-sharing,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech commemorating late scholar Sheikh Mustafa Qassir al-Ameli.

China offered $16 million in humanitarian assistance Thursday for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan as part of Beijing's growing engagement with the Arab world.

The assistance will go to displaced Syrians sheltering in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon, President Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Wednesday Russia, Iran, and Hizbullah to help end the war in Syria, saying that Lebanon has felt the impact of the crisis more than any other country.

He said: “Iran, Russia, and Hizbullah must engage in a legitimate effort to bring this war to an end.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Monday stressed that the Constitution is “clear” and “indisputable” regarding the powers of the government during a presidential vacuum, noting that “the PM is the one who asks cabinet to convene and prepares the session agenda.”

“I will not cease my efforts to secure the election of a new president,” Salam said during an interview with MTV.

The U.N. Security Council expressed "disappointment and concern" Thursday that an election of a new Lebanese president has not occurred and demanded that polls be held without delay.

In a unanimous declaration, the Council's 15 member states urged the country's parliament "to uphold Lebanon's long standing democratic tradition and to work to ensure that presidential elections take place as soon as possible and without external interference."

The Maronite Patriarch vowed Wednesday to help the displaced Christians of a village in northern Israel, as he pushed forward with a controversial trip to the Jewish state.

In 1948, six months after Israel was established, the army asked Iqrit and Kufr Bir'im's residents to leave their homes for two weeks because of military operations in the area.

Syrian expats streamed to their embassy in Yarze on Wednesday to vote in a controversial presidential election, contrary to Lebanese elections held usually on weekends, which triggered suffocating traffic congestion, jamming work bound Lebanese citizens in their cars.

By midday, all the entrances to Beirut were blocked, causing long tailbacks, as thousands of Syrians descended on the embassy, mostly by foot.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday his party does not want a president who would “stab the resistance in the back,” accusing the March 14 camp of seeking an extension of President Michel Suleiman's term through fielding a “confrontational candidate” to block the election of a “serious nominee.”

“We are before a very important and critical period that has started today,” said Nasrallah, a day after Suleiman left the Baabda Palace upon the end of his six-year tenure, which witnessed a war of words with Hizbullah in recent months over the so-called army-people-resistance equation.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi traveled Friday to the Holy Land via Amman on a religious visit that has angered Hizbullah, a sworn enemy of Israel.

The state-run National News Agency said al-Rahi was accompanied by Bishop Boulos Sayyah and Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayyad.

Iran is recruiting Afghan refugees to fight in Syria to reduce casualties among Iranian Guards personnel and Hizbullah, a Western official said late Thursday.

Tehran strongly denies its forces are directly involved in the Syrian conflict but Hizbullah publicly acknowledged in April last year that it has been fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's troops.