Al-Mustaqbal Movement on Friday called on President Michel Aoun to address Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's latest verbal attacks against some Gulf countries, describing them as a “strong blow” to Aoun's efforts to mend ties with the Gulf.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji on Friday pledged to safeguard the presidential tenure of President Michel Aoun and to protect the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Ambassador Hugo Shorter hailed Lebanese women seeking to take up a political role, in a speech addressing successful women from all walks of life, who are making an impact in their field, motivating and inspiring people around them, a press release on Friday said.

In the speech which Shorter delivered at a reception he hosted on the theme of ‘Women in Politics’, he noted the importance of women seeking to take up a bigger role in Lebanese political life just as much as they are excelling in other fields. Ambassador Shorter said:

British Interior Minister, Amber Rudd stressed Lebanon's need to stage the parliamentary elections on time, on the basis of an electoral law that meets approval of all Lebanese parties, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

“It is encouraging to conduct the parliamentary elections this year in Lebanon. We hope the efforts succeed at finding a new electoral law acceptable to all sides,” Rudd said in a message to her Lebanese counterpart Nouhad al-Mashnouq.

A bomb threat on Friday on a Greece-bound airplane that flew from the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut and landed in Athens Airport turned out to be fake alarm.

An anonymous call was made earlier on Friday giving Athens airport's air traffic control tower a false alarm about a bomb planted aboard a plane belonging to Middle East Airlines (MEA), the National News Agency reported.

State Minister for Combating Corruption Nicolas Tueni said on Friday that the approval of the longtime thorny wage scale for the public sector would be an achievement for the new term of President Michel Aoun, but stressed that its ratification is linked to finding the needed revenues to cover its expenses.

“Endorsing the wage scale is an achievement for (President's) mandate and for Lebanon, but the matter is linked to finding the revenues to cover it. It is being discussed in cabinet,” Tueni told VDL (93.3).

Director of Political and Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Charbel Wehbe, held a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag on Thursday after the latter's tweets replying to comments made by President Michel Aoun about Hizbullah's arms.

During the meeting, Wehbe stressed the necessity to comply with the provisions of the Vienna Convention in respect to what applies to accredited diplomats, the state-run National News Agency said.

Suspicions arose early on Friday after an improvised bomb placed inside an old car tire was found in the northern al-Beddawi area in Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The device, which turned out to be a mock bomb, was discovered near Salaheddine Mosque in al-Beddawi, NNA added.

Israel warned Hizbullah on Thursday against attacking it after Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened to strike Israel's nuclear reactor in any future war.

The comments by Nasrallah marked the first time his group explicitly threatened to target the reactor in the southern Israeli town of Dimona.

President Michel Aoun pledged Thursday that he “will not allow any foreign party to interfere in the Lebanese domestic affairs.”