Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah emphasized on Thursday the party's commitment towards its ally the Free Patriotic Movement in the municipal elections, saying that the victorious candidates will serve all who “voted for us and those who did not vote for us.”

He said during a Hizbullah ceremony marking the "resistance's wounded fighters": “We are not obligated towards any side that the Free Patriotic Movement chooses to ally itself with during the municipal polls.”

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri stressed Thursday that state institutions “should no longer be taken hostage,” three days after authorities managed to organize largely peaceful municipal and mayoral elections last Sunday.

The Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, Major General Luciano Portolano held talks on Thursday with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and the Army Commander, General Jean Qahwaji, said UNIFIL in a statement.

Portolano briefed the speaker on the situation along the Blue Line and UNIFIL’s engagement with the people of South Lebanon in efforts, together with Lebanese army, to maintain security and stability in the area within the framework of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr charged five people with belonging to the Islamic State terror group, the state-run National News Agency said on Thursday.

The suspects include a Lebanese and a Syrian who have been detained previously, NNA said.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam stated on Thursday that the success in holding the municipal elections have thwarted allegations against the Lebanese incompetency in staging the process in a peaceful and civilized manner.

“The state and its institutions are capable of running and protecting the most challenging electoral difficulties. The municipal and mayoral elections have dropped claims that the Lebanese are incapable of holding the municipal elections,” said Salam in a speech delivered at the Arab Economic Forum held in Beirut.

Unknown assailants opened fire at a man in the northeastern town of Arsal and injured him, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

Two masked gunmen on a motorcycle shot Omar Mohammed al-Hujeiri, 41, aka Omar al-Antar, on the al-Jamaleh road in Arsal, said NNA.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri and former Prime Minister Najib Miqati are set to meet at a “neutral venue” to discuss the upcoming municipal elections in the northern city of Tripoli, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday.

The two men are to meet either at the Grand Serail in Tripoli or at the residence of PM Tammam Salam.

Speaker Nabih Berri might not engage in the by-parliamentary election battle in the southern area of Jezzine against the candidate of the Free Patriotic Movement, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday.

“Berri, who supports Ibrahim Azar the son of a former MP, might not wage a battle against the FPM candidate, Amal Abou Zeid, in Jezzine's parliamentary by-elections,” March 8 sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil held talks Wednesday in Doha with his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani.

Activists from the We Want Accountability civil society campaign staged a sit-in Wednesday outside the Interior Ministry in Sanayeh to urge authorities to organize parliamentary elections.