Al-Jadeed female correspondent Ghadi Francis was “severely beaten” on Sunday by MP Asaad Hardan’s bodyguard Hussein Hashem, al-Jadeed television reported.

Francis was in Dhour el-Shweir area to cover the electoral process held by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said on Sunday that the current phase in Lebanon brings to mind the threats of the 1982 Israeli occupation, calling for dialogue to regulate disputes peacefully.

“We are in a dangerous phase that reminds me of the Israeli invasion in 1982,” Jumblat said, adding that “resolving local disagreements is our responsibility and we must regulate the disputes peacefully, instead of fighting like in Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.”

A minor earthquake was felt on Sunday by the residents of the capital Beirut and its suburbs.

Lebanon’s Bhanness seismic center said the epicenter of the 6.0-magnitude tremor was located in Greece.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Sunday that the party is convinced that Lebanon needs a national defense strategy based on cohesion, the strength of Lebanon and the unity of the army, people and the resistance.

“We should be independent and free and not followers,” Qassem said, calling on the Lebanese to build their future without any foreign intervention.

Residents in the northern town of Wadi Khaled blocked the international highway on Sunday to protest the kidnapping of Mohammed Suleiman Ahmed, alias "Abu al-Rouss”, who was abducted from Akkar valley into the Syrian territory.

After the incident triggered tit-for-tat abductions, municipality chiefs and local dignitaries convened, calling on the government and security forces to determine Ahmed’s fate.

President Michel Suleiman extended his condolences to the family of veteran journalist Ghassan Tueni on Sunday, saying the “Dean of Journalists” will be missed at the dialogue table.

Suleiman made the remark to the National News Agency after he and first lady Wafaa went to the St. Nicolas Greek Orthodox church to pay their condolences to Tueni’s family and An Nahar daily’s staff.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked on Sunday the massacres in Syria to Iran and Hizbullah, accusing them of providing Syrian President Bashar Assad with assistance.

"It's not just the Syrian government. It is being aided by Iran and Hizbullah," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet session about the massacre of hundreds of civilians in several towns in Syria.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi hoped in his Sunday sermon for the national dialogue that President Michel Suleiman has called for to be “fruitful.”

Suleiman has invited political leaders from across the political spectrum to attend the dialogue session at Baabda palace on Monday.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi expressed concern over the situation in Lebanon but stressed the body will not make an initiative to resolve the security incidents in the country as long as Lebanese officials haven’t asked for assistance.

“Signs (that the situation) in Lebanon would ignite are very worrying,” al-Arabi told the Saudi Okaz daily in an interview published Sunday. “I hope that doesn’t happen.”

Speaker Nabih Berri said Sunday that hadn’t there been fears of sectarian strife in Lebanon, the parliament would have resorted to a vote of confidence against Premier Najib Miqati’s government.

In an interview with the Saudi Okaz newspaper, Berri said: “We will continue through the parliament to pressure the government to force it into speeding up” the procedures that would lead to oil exploration in Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone.