The Lebanese Forces on Tuesday filed complaints against Hizbullah with the public prosecution and the Supervisory Commission for Elections, accusing the rival party of practicing “psychological and sectarian incitement and hostile mobilization” in the Baalbek-Hermel electoral district.

“Some of this party’s members, leaders and organized elements have waged media and rhetorical campaigns aimed at sowing discord among the elements of the nation and instilling terror and fear in citizens,” the LF charged.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said that “the result of resistance as proposed by Hizbullah is the collapse and disasters we’re witnessing today.”

“Resistance is to live in dignity, but are you living in dignity today? They promise the people that they will fight the universe while our people are living ‘beneath the seventh ground,’” Geagea said, addressing the Shiite community in the Baabda district and entire Lebanon.

Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib participated Tuesday in a pledging conference in Brussels for conflict-wracked Syria.

Bou Habib had told France 24 that he will urge the international community to help Lebanon by securing a safe return of the Syrian refugees to their country, as he said the refugee crisis has exacerbated the dire situation in Lebanon.

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday said that the “use of electoral money by some candidates” requires the intervention of the Supervisory Commission for Elections and the judiciary.

“All measures have been taken to hold the elections in an atmosphere of transparency and freedom, and the increase in the nominations of women is a positive issue which we hope would improve further in the next elections,” Aoun told a delegation from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

On Monday, May 9, 32 students from eight private and public schools across Lebanon participated in a contest celebrating Europe Day, as 2022 marks the European Year of the Youth.

Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon, Ralph Tarraf, has delivered a speech marking Europe Day, in which he also tackled the situation in Lebanon.

Below is the full text of the speech as received by Naharnet:

President Michel Aoun welcomed Tuesday the participation of delegates from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) in observing the May 15 parliamentary polls.

Last month, a delegation from the European Union election observers wrapped up a six-day visit to Lebanon during which they discussed the deployment of observers ahead of the upcoming May 15 parliamentary elections in the crisis-hit country.

Dozens of Internal Security Forces retirees stormed Tuesday the premises of the Interior Ministry, as Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi refused to meet them and listen to their demands, media reports said.

The retired ISF members protested deteriorating living conditions, as the Lebanese pound reached Tuesday LL27,000 low against the dollar.

The May 15 parliamentary polls will be a "political July War" and Hizbullah “will practice political resistance in the elections in order to preserve the military resistance,” Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday.

“Those who want to defend Lebanon, extract its oil resources and protect its waters must vote for the resistance and its allies,” Nasrallah told a Hizbullah electoral rally via video link.

The U.S. and Australian embassies in Lebanon have issued warnings to their citizens and tensions have surged in some areas amid reports that supporters of Hizbullah and the Amal Movement intend to stage a scooter rally in Beirut and its suburbs at 5pm Monday, media reports said.

The pro-Hizbullah al-Akhbar newspaper reported that the U.S. embassy asked its citizens in Lebanon to “avoid areas witnessing rallies and gatherings.”