Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has announced that his party wants a “national unity” government to be formed after the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“Our project is partnership with everyone and a national unity government,” Qassem said in an interview with Hizbullah’s al-Nour radio station.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday reassured that the May 15 parliamentary elections will be held on time.

“We’re a month away from the parliamentary elections, and some are still questioning whether the vote will be held or not. I reiterate that the vote will be held on time and that the additional funds for it have been approved,” Aoun said at the beginning of a Cabinet session in Baabda.

A UNIFIL patrol belonging to the French contingent was intercepted Wednesday in the southern town of Blida, al-Jadeed TV said.

The patrol was passing in a narrow internal road, accompanied by a Lebanese Army vehicle, when it got stuck in an alleyway, the TV network said.

On the occasion of International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, a group of Lebanese professional athletes launched Wednesday, in collaboration with the United Nations Information Center in Beirut (UNIC Beirut) a podcast in Arabic dedicated to sports.

The Fourth Chamber of the Court of Cassation on Wednesday decided to dismiss one of the recusal requests filed against Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, media reports said.

The request had been filed by the family of blast victim Ali Sawwan.

April 13 is a gloomy date for the Lebanese seeing as it marks the start of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war.

Today, families of the disappeared in Lebanon’s Civil War gathered in Bayt Beirut -- a historic museum that commemorates the civil war -- to ask for justice, as an independent national commission has failed to investigate what happened to the disappeared and to question former officials.

Kuwaiti Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul-Al al-Qinai announced Wednesday that the recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Lebanon and some Gulf countries and the return of their ambassadors to the country are “an indication that the Kuwaiti initiative has succeeded.”

This also means that “the two parties in brotherly Lebanon and the Gulf have agreed that the history and the fate that bring them together are more important than anything else,” Qinai added, after talks at the Grand Serail with Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Wednesday the LF's program for the upcoming parliamentary elections, urging the Lebanese voters to hold accountable those who have been ruling the country by voting against them in the upcoming polls.

Geagea accused Hizbullah of "dominating the political, strategic and security decisions in Lebanon," and of "speaking on behalf of the Shiites."

The joint parliamentary committees convened Wednesday in Parliament to study a capital control draft law before referring it to Parliament’s general assembly.

The National News Agency said the session ended without the approval of the draft law as amendments protecting the rights of depositors were introduced to Article 1.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari met Wednesday with President Michel Aoun in Baabda to discuss the latest developments.

Aoun and Bukhari reportedly discussed reviving the Lebanese-Saudi relations as the Saudi Ambassador informed Aoun about the mechanism of a Saudi-French fund aimed at providing humanitarian support to Lebanon.