The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms" last week's killing of a Spanish peacekeeper in southern Lebanon and decided to set up a board of inquiry to investigate his death, a senior U.N. official said.

Wednesday's statement comes a week after Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo was killed during the Israeli military's exchange of fire with Hizbullah in a disputed border area.

Security reports Wednesday unveiled that a suicide bomber from the northeastern border town of Arsal will blow himself up against “civilian or military gatherings,” as the army continued to target jihadist gunmen positioned in the town's outskirts.

The state-run National News Agency stated that security forces have obtained information about “Mahmoud Abdul Karim Hmayyed's intention to carry out a suicide operation.”

A senior Hamas leader called Wednesday for the formation of Palestinian militant groups loyal to his Gaza-based Islamist movement in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria for attacks on Israel.

Mahmud Zahar told reporters in the Gaza Strip that Lebanese and Syrian branches of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, should launch attacks on Israel "to help us liberate Palestine".

Hizbullah on Wednesday condemned as a “brutal crime” the execution by burning of Jordanian fighter pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh at the hands of the Islamic State group, describing the IS militants as “butchers.”

“Hizbullah condemns the brutal, heinous crime that was committed by the IS gang against the Jordanian pilot,” the party said in a statement.

Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel Wednesday suggested an initiative to resolve the presidential void crisis in which he demanded supporting one of the top four Maronite leaders in order to elect a “strong and capable president.”

After meeting the Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry Jean-François Girault, Gemayel said that he “proposed an initiative based on consensus among all leaders over electing a strong and capable president.”

The cabinet did not discuss the thorny issue of civil marriage during its session on Wednesday, the information minister announced, although more than 50 marriage contracts are awaiting approval at the Directorate General of Personal Status.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had on Tuesday declared that the issue would be discussed from outside the cabinet's agenda after coming under the fire of the civil society.

The government on Wednesday referred to the Judicial Council the case of the deadly suicide blasts that rocked Tripoli's Jabal Mohsen last month, as it announced that the army has “full political cover” as it confronts terrorist groups on the border and inside the country.

“The cabinet agreed to refer the terrorist Jabal Mohsen bombing to the Judicial Council,” Information Minister Ramzi Jreij announced after a cabinet session at the Grand Serail.

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim highlighted on Wednesday the threat of terrorism in the region, saying that this matter “should not be treated as a secondary issue.”

He told the General Security magazine: “The army and security forces should be properly armed because spending on defense and border safety is an issue that must not be postponed.”

The families of the so-called Arsal captives retracted on Wednesday their threats to escalate their measures, stressing that negotiations with the Islamist gunmen are on the right track.

“Not receiving any new threats indicates the serious manner of negotiations,” the relatives told reporters after meeting with General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.

More than 12 people were injured on Wednesday morning when several military vehicles were involved in a pileup on the Antelias-Jal el-Dib highway, north of Beirut.

The Traffic Management Center said five vehicles smashed into each other, leaving 13 people injured.