BEIRUT: Hezbollah and Amal Movement said Wednesday they were committed to the role of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, just days after a roadside bomb wounded five French peacekeepers near the southern city of Tyre.

“Hezbollah and the Amal Movement leaderships stress their commitment to UNIFIL’s role which is supportive of the Lebanese Army in line with resolution 1701,” said a statement issued by the two parties after a meeting at Amal’s office in Tyre.

The statement came less than a week after a roadside bomb hit a French patrol in Bourj al-Shemali near Tyre, wounding five peacekeepers.

In the statement, Hezbollah and Amal condemned Monday’s incident in which rocket fire apparently aimed at Israel, hit the house of a 55-year-old woman in Houla, south Lebanon. They also denounced a roadside bomb that targeted French troops on Friday.

The statement said such incidents underline the “pressing need for unity.”

Hezbollah and Amal called on security and judicial authorities to speed up investigations into the incidents.

They accused “some in Lebanon of going along with external desires and their suspicious projects in pursuit of power,” pointing to the international community’s role in recent change across the region.