Arabic version: لبنان يرى تقدماً في محادثات الحدود والأسرى مع إسرائيل

According to Al Jazeera, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said the latest Lebanon-Israel meetings in Rome brought “positive progress” on borders and prisoners, while Israeli military strikes continued in Lebanon.

Speaking during a cabinet session on Friday, Aoun said the talks addressed the ceasefire, the demolition and bulldozing of homes, borders, prisoner exchanges and “pilot zones”, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency. He said he hoped “that practical steps will soon emerge”.

Aoun also discussed his meetings last month with United States President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, telling the cabinet that the US administration understood Lebanon’s situation. The US State Department described the discussions as “fruitful” and said Lebanon and Israel were “much closer to reaching an agreement on advancing and expanding the pilot zones process”.

However, displaced families in Lebanon have expressed frustration with Israel’s refusal to abide by the June 26 “framework agreement”. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported new Israeli attacks on Friday, including an attack that slightly injured a Lebanese soldier.

Early artillery shelling and machinegun fire targeted Meiss el-Jabal, while Israeli drones flew over Beirut and its suburbs, NNA said. It also reported that Israel’s army targeted water utility workers repairing a local network in Bint Jbeil and caused an explosion near a mosque in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah. The Lebanese army said the soldier was injured after an attack on an army bulldozer in al-Mansouri, Tyre, where it was opening roads and removing rubble. Israel’s military also issued a forced displacement order for al-Mansouri.