Former President Michel Suleiman called on the international community on Tuesday to support the Lebanese government and army in the fight against terrorism.

“Further facilities should be offered and establish an air bridge to deliver the technology and the equipment necessary for assisting the army,” Suleiman said in a televised speech.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Arab foreign ministers in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as he bids for a broad coalition against the Islamic State, a senior Egyptian foreign ministry official said.

The talks in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, which will continue into Thursday, will be attended by ministers from Egypt, Jordan and the six Gulf Arab states as well as Iraq, the official told Agence France Presse.

A dispute has started to emerge between the Foreign Ministry and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees over the interpretation of the government's decision to relieve Syrian refugees in Lebanon of residency fees should they choose to return to their homeland, reported An Nahar daily on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil sent a memo to cabinet and the Interior and Social Affairs Ministries regarding the development, explaining that the UNHCR sent text messages to refugees soon after the government adopted the measure.

Indirect contacts are reportedly ongoing between Hizbullah and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front to exchange hostages and the bodies of fighters, who were captured and killed in clashes Syria's al-Qalamun region.

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said on Tuesday that contacts are being carried out via mediators.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam carried out contacts with the ambassadors of several countries and political and religious leaders to avert the deteriorating situation in Lebanon.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Tuesday, Salam contacted the ambassadors of the countries “concerned” with the ongoing developments to urge them to pressure their local allies to prevent the situation from worsening.

Deputy Hizbullah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem criticized the kidnappings of Lebanese nationals in an attempt to pressure the release of soldiers held by Islamists, saying that the people should not adopt the path followed by terrorists, reported As Safir newspaper on Tuesday.

He stressed that dialogue and resolving pending disputes will ease the tensions, calling on the March 14 alliance “to stop justifying the actions of the takfiris, who do not recognize anyone and even betray those protecting them.”

President Barack Obama will lead a U.N. Security Council session on the threat of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria on September 24, a U.S. official said Monday.

Stray gunfire from Syria wounded an Israeli soldier in the Golan Heights on Monday, the Israeli army said.

"An IDF (Israeli army) soldier was injured by errant fire from internal fighting in Syria. He was evacuated to hospital," an army statement said, without elaborating.

Syrian regime forces on Monday launched an offensive to retake a strategic rebel-held area near Damascus and also pressed a campaign against jihadists elsewhere in the country, a monitor said.

Two days ago rebels, including from al-Qaida's Syria franchise, al-Nusra Front, seized large sections of the southeastern suburb of Dukhaniyeh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday stressed the importance of setting up a new regional system, “which includes Turkey and Iran,” to replace the Arab League and fight terrorism, calling against excluding Russia from any solutions in Syria.

“The Arab world will not be able to confront this challenge alone, and it's about time we reconsidered the concept of the Arab League and worked on establishing a new regional system, through expanding the league to include Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Jumblat in his weekly article in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa newspaper.