The United Nations hailed Lebanon’s decision to scrap the death penalty, and urged other countries in the Middle East and North Africa to do likewise.

"I commend the decision by the Lebanese parliament to formally abolish the death penalty in the country. Lebanon is now the first country in the region to do so, and I call on the other countries that still maintain the death penalty to follow its lead in ending this inhumane practice," U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa announced Tuesday that "the Lebanese-Israeli negotiations are taking place every two or three weeks and are making significant progress and offering a new solution in each round."

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.

President Joseph Aoun announced Tuesday that the negotiations with Israel are “making progress,” adding that “in any case” the talks “are better than the devastating results of war.”

“The scale of Israeli attacks on our country has decreased since the signing of the framework agreement, which has positively impacted the return of Lebanese citizens to spend the summer in their homeland,” Aoun added.

Lebanon's parliament Tuesday abolished the death penalty, making it the first country in the Arab world to replace the sentencing with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labor.

The tiny Mediterranean country has committed to an unofficial moratorium on executions since January 2004. However, dozens of death sentences since then have been issued, but later suspended or commuted.

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.

The official’s remarks come despite the fact that the latest session of talks between the two sides was cut short because of Lebanese frustration with continued Israeli bombings and Israeli accusations that the Lebanese side was leaking contents of the meeting.

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.