Lebanon has threatened to withdraw from the next round of direct negotiations with Israel, scheduled for September in Rome under United States auspices, as Israeli forces continue military operations in southern Lebanon that Beirut says constitute clear violations of the ceasefire agreement. The warning, reported by Lebanese media, is intended as a signal to Washington that Beirut expects the US to apply greater pressure on Israel to comply with its commitments.

The seventh round of negotiations, held earlier this week in Rome, ended without progress on any of the key issues tabled by Lebanon. No date has been set for an eighth round, and Lebanon's presidential palace at Baabda confirmed that no agreement had been reached on expanding so-called "pilot zones" — areas to be placed under Lebanese army control — or on a monitoring mechanism for the existing framework accord. The core dispute centres on Lebanon's request to include the towns of Khiyam and Bint Jbeil, located approximately five and three kilometres from the border respectively, in the pilot zone arrangement. Israel has flatly refused. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued weekend bombardments across several southern Lebanese areas and carried out large-scale demolitions of residential buildings. A strike on a Lebanese military vehicle near Khiyam on Sunday was widely interpreted as a deliberate signal of Israel's rejection of Beirut's position.

Further deepening the impasse, an Israeli official told US media that Tel Aviv is demanding the Lebanese army inspect roughly 40 percent of homes south of the Litani River — a major waterway in southern Lebanon — to verify the absence of weapons. Lebanese military officials at the talks reportedly rejected this outright, even as political officials were said to have shown more flexibility. Israel has also sought to exclude Spain, France, and UN peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) from any monitoring mechanism, while leaving open the possibility of Italian participation given Rome's role as host. According to Al Jazeera's correspondent, strong US backing for the Israeli position was the most significant revelation of the latest round.

Opposition within Lebanon to the negotiating process is growing. The Amal movement, Hezbollah, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, and several other Lebanese parties have voiced increasing objections to the framework accord and the direction of talks. Residents of the southern town of Mansouri, which was struck during the Rome negotiations, staged a protest outside a Lebanese army centre demanding the right to return to their land and rejecting the town's inclusion in what they described as an occupied buffer zone. Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, a key backer of President Joseph Aoun, has urged the Lebanese government to hold firm in its demands. Beirut continues to look toward Washington for a shift in stance, and is pursuing parallel diplomatic channels — including a planned presidential visit to the United States and Turkey — in the hope of breaking the deadlock.