U.S. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement that the seventh round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel was “fruitful” amid ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi met on Friday with President Joseph Aoun, a day after a seventh round of Israeli-Lebanese talks concluded in Rome.

Following the meeting, Patriarch al-Rahi praised President Aoun’s stances as "honorable" and "patriotic," emphasizing that maintaining national unity remains paramount. He called on all Lebanese to rally behind the Lebanese State and its public institutions to safeguard the country and confront mounting regional challenges.

The Lebanese Army entered the southern town of al-Mansouri overnight to clear roads after Israeli shelling and strikes.

To obstruct the Lebanese soldiers from deploying in the town and clearing the roads for residents to return, the Israeli military targeted the army's bulldozer, dropped sound bombs and carried out airstrikes, lightly wounding a soldier.

Israel refused in talks on Thursday to withdraw from more areas of south Lebanon unless the Lebanese army had full control of an initial two "pilot zones", a Lebanese presidential source told AFP.

The seventh round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel was held in Rome under U.S. auspices, aimed at ending hostilities between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah that have become a second front in the Middle East war.

Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc on Thursday condemned what it called Lebanese authorities’ “continued policy of submission, surrender, and humiliating negotiations” with Israel, which is pressing on with its “killing, bombing, bulldozing, and destruction.”

A preliminary date for a new round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel has been set for September 1 and the U.S. side pledged to follow up on the issues of captives and the border with both sides during this period, sources following the negotiations told LBCI television on Thursday, after the two sides concluded the third and last day of the seventh round of talks.

"There is no new progress on the pilot zones. Lebanon is insisting on a new zone, while Israel insists on verifying the first two zones," the sources said.

U.N. peacekeepers continue to observe “daily violations of Lebanese airspace and military activities on the ground” and “yesterday’s 113 projectiles launched by IDF (Israeli army) are the highest recorded by UNIFIL since 21 June,” the U.N. force said on Thursday.

No progress has been made in the Rome talks regarding the expansion of the so-called pilot zones, especially since the discussion is focused on the political aspect, Baabda Palace sources told Al-Jadeed television on Thursday.

Lebanese and Israeli negotiators are meeting Thursday in Rome for a third and final day to discuss the implementation of a deal under which Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from areas they are occupying in southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament.

On Wednesday, Israel requested that the day's talks with Lebanon end three hours early, a source in the negotiations told AFP, saying the head of the Israeli delegation, U.S. ambassador Yechiel Leiter, had blamed alleged "misleading leaks" by the Lebanese side.

Rights groups said Thursday that an Israeli attack in south Lebanon that killed reporter Amal Khalil and wounded another journalist earlier this year was an apparent "war crime".

The attack took place in the village of Al-Tiri on April 22, days after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hezbollah.