Israeli forces detonated and burned houses in the southern town of Haddatha, on Monday, and carried out at dawn massive explosions in Bint Jbeil.

Israeli artillery later shelled the Nabatieh-Kfartebnit region, the National News Agency said.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter has said that the Israeli army will only withdraw from Lebanon if Hezbollah is removed from pilot zones in the country's south.

Israel is still procrastinating and coming up with excuses to delay withdrawal from south Lebanon despite U.S. and Lebanese pressure in this regard, media reports said.

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the Israeli army is expected to begin withdrawing from the so-called "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon next week, coinciding with a new round of talks with Lebanon to be held in Rome.

President Joseph Aoun on Friday assured a Lebanese Forces delegation led by party leader Samir Geagea that he “will not back down from the decision to negotiate” with Israel, while insisting that he will give explanations to the Lebanese people.

President Joseph Aoun has said that "as long as Hezbollah’s allegiance is to Iran, there will be no progress.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday stressed that "Lebanon cannot remain in limbo,” adding that “Israel must withdraw from the south, and reconstruction must begin, but a functioning state is essential for all of this to happen."

After weeks of stagnation, a U.S.-brokered framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel soon will shift to technical discussions in Rome, an American official said.

The upcoming meeting in Rome on July 14 and 15 will address Israeli demands to form joint committees to oversee the implementation of the agreement. These would include separate committees for political affairs, security, and the management of so-called "good neighborly relations," pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported Friday.

Israeli strikes targeted Friday a pickup truck on the outskirts of Kounine-Kfardjal, wounding two people, and a car in Kfar Rumman.

Later in the day, another strike hit Kfar Rumman again and Israeli artillery shelled the southern town of Deir Seryan.

President Joseph Aoun has said that he wants to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump because he wants the Lebanese issue to “remain on the American agenda.”

“We want to solidify its position there,” Aoun said in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.