Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri congratulated on Monday the winners in the North municipal elections and stressed the need for efforts to be put together for the benefit of Tripoli.

“I urge everyone to work for the city's interest. We reiterate our respect for the democratic will of the people of Tripoli who chose their new municipal council,” said Hariri via Twitter.

Democratic Gathering bloc MP Walid Jumblat commented on the initial victory of resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi in the municipal elections in the northern city of Tripoli and said that the lists that faced him in the polls were unsuccessful.

“It seems that the Titanic (in reference to a list backed by the Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri, former Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and former ministers Faisal Karami and Mohammed al-Safadi) that carried strongmen from Baysour and Kfar Matta has arrived in Tripoli to drown there,” said Jumblat via Twitter.

A Syrian child was rescued after his father tried to drown him in the sea off Tripoli's el-Mina area, state-run National News Agency reported.

Israel's prime minister has thanked the Russian president for agreeing to return a tank from a battle in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon from which three Israeli soldiers are still missing in action.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement Sunday thanking Russian President Vladimir Putin. It says that after the war Syria delivered the tank to the Russian army and it later ended up in a Moscow museum.

Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi declared on Sunday that “no one” can impose his will on the northern city of Tripoli.

He said after casting his vote in the municipal elections in the city: “I will confront any side that seeks to divide Tripoli according to its agenda.”

The Internal Security Forces raided on Saturday the house of the murderer of Wissam Bleiq, a member of Beirut's firefighting department, and arrested his two wives in addition to five people who helped him flee to Syria, the ISF said in a statement on Saturday.

Supporters of incumbent municipal chief of Akkar al-Atiqa in the district of Akkar, Khaled al-Bahri, blocked roads on Saturday protesting his decision to resign and withdraw his nomination from the upcoming municipal elections, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The campaigners blocked the road with dirt in front of the polling stations in the Akkar Secondary School.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah emphasized that he will take severe regulatory measures against any of his supporters who fire guns into the air during his speeches, al-Akhbar daily reported on Saturday.

“Don't be surprised if one day you hear that a certain division of Hizbullah has been dissolved because of shooting firearms into the air. The decision will be announced in media outlets,” al-Akhbar quoted Nasrallah as saying.

Fourty-eight hours before the polling stations open in the North and Akkar governorates, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq followed up on the administrative, security and logistical preparations to ensure a smooth municipal electoral process on Sunday, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

The total number of voters eligible to vote in the governorate of the North is 580,095, while 269,910 voters in the district of Akkar, said the daily.

The General Security announced that it has arrested a Palestinian refugee for his activity in trading arms and ammunition, the state-run National News Agency reported on Friday.

“Within its framework to follow-up the activities of terror groups and its sleeper cells, the General Security arrested, based on the Public Prosecutor's request, Palestinian refugee A.A. for having activities in the trade of weapons and ammunition,” said a statement issued by the General Security Directorate.