Iraqi security forces have killed 279 "terrorists" in the past 24 hours, as they push back against a major militant offensive, a security spokesman said on Sunday, as Kurdish forces seized control of one the two official Iraqi border crossings with Syria

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta, made the announcement about the casualties during a televised news conference.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Sunday that the bloody conflict in Iraq could quickly spin into a regional "proxy war". 

Steinmeier, speaking to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, called on Turkey, the Gulf Arab states and Iran to do their part to stabilise Iraq.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil expressed relief on Sunday over the security situation in Lebanon, urging political arch-foes to reach a settlement over the presidential crisis to end the deadlock.

“The presidential poll should be staged as soon as possible,” Bassil said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Former U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said Sunday the unrest sweeping Iraq stemmed from the international community's negligence of the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Jihadist-led militants launched a lightning offensive on Monday, advancing to within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of Baghdad's city limits and bringing Iraq's security forces to the brink of collapse.

Hizbullah is mulling to increase the number of its fighters in the neighboring country Syria, the Saudi al-Watan daily reported on Sunday.

According to the newspaper, Hizbullah is seeking to cover-up for the shortage that is expected to occur due to the withdrawal of Iraqi fighters from Syria in order to participate in the fight against Sunni Arab militants who have seized a swathe of northern Iraq.

Syrian rebels and their allies the jihadist Al-Nusra Front on Saturday withdrew from Kasab, a strategic village on the border with Turkey they seized in March, a monitoring group said.

Most fighters from Al-Nusra and the other rebel groups pulled out, "leaving behind only a small number" of men, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Ten Hizbullah fighters have died in recent days while taking part in the ongoing Syrian war, most of whom were killed in an attack by the oppositions' fighters in the town of Rankous in Reef Damascus.

These reports were confirmed on websites affiliated with the Syrian opposition and with Hizbullah, which also revealed the fighters' identity and noted that while some of them were buried on Friday, others were laid to rest on Saturday.

Nine top Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad resigned Saturday citing shortages and mismanagement of foreign military aid.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mohammad Abboud told Agence France Presse he and eight other officers quit because there was "too little" military aid from donor countries, including Western supporters of the revolt.

A bomb attack targeting a weapons bazaar in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border killed 30 "terrorists" on Saturday, state television reported.

"A big explosion hit a terrorist arms market in Mayadeen, killing 30 terrorists and wounding dozens of others," the channel said.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora demanded on Saturday that the government kick off its duties through adhering to the constitution.

He said during the launch of a workshop in the northern city of Tripoli: “The government must go ahead with its responsibilities and avoid becoming embroiled in endless debates about its functions.”