The European Union on Tuesday congratulated Lebanon on the adoption of the law abolishing the death penalty, saying it marks a “significant step forward for human rights in the country.”

A heated argument and shouting match were reported Tuesday between Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Defense Minister Michel Menassa, after the premier reportedly insisted on preventing the minister from delivering a speech in parliament regarding the general amnesty bill.

The disagreement prompted Menassa to leave the session.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Tuesday strongly condemned "the brutal attacks launched by the Zionist regime in recent days on areas in southern Lebanon," according to the Iranian news agency IRNA.

Washington feels good about where talks between Lebanon and Israel are heading, a U.S. State Department official told Al Arabiya English.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that Iran should be “responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza,” in response to Iran’s insistence that U.S. payment of war reparations is a pre-condition to any resolution of the ongoing hostilities.

"I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran," Trump said, noting that his demand included not only damages arising from the current war with Iran, but also Iranian attacks on U.S. targets going back more than two decades as well as payments to the families of Iranian protesters killed by authorities over the past 50 years.

An Israeli drone struck Tuesday a vehicle in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, wounding two people, the health ministry said.

A double-tap strike targeted first responders who rushed to the scene, damaging an ambulance.

President Joseph Aoun was briefed Monday by the head of the Lebanese negotiating delegation, ex-ambassador Simon Karam, on the deliberations of the meetings that were held in Rome last week between the Lebanese, U.S. and Israeli delegations, the Presidency said.

The president provided Karam with his “directives for the next stage,” the Presidency added.

Hezbollah has noted that the Israeli foreign ministry’s publishing of a map that annexes occupied southern Lebanon “confirms beyond any doubt the true extent of the Israeli enemy's ambitions for Lebanon.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Israel has “acted with force in Lebanon” in recent days, noting that it has eliminated “terrorists,” including “on the Ali Taher ridge” in the Nabatieh region.

“I cannot elaborate on this. We are in the midst of a very important operation,” Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting.

Washington has informed Israel through intensive contacts of the need to de-escalate in Lebanon, sources told Al-Arabiya on Friday.