The United States has urged Israel to reduce military escalation in Lebanon while reaffirming its support for ongoing negotiations between Beirut and Tel Aviv, according to sources cited Friday by Al Arabiya and Al Hadath.

The sources said Washington conveyed its message through intensive diplomatic contacts with Israel, urging restraint while backing the negotiations currently underway in the Italian capital.

They added that U.S. officials also assured the Lebanese side of Washington's commitment to ensuring the success of the talks with Israel.

The diplomatic push came a day after the U.S. State Department said Lebanon and Israel had made tangible progress during the latest round of negotiations.

A State Department spokesperson described the technical- and expert-level meetings in Rome as productive, saying the two sides were now "much closer" to reaching agreement on the next steps needed to continue and expand the proposed pilot zones.

Under understandings reached during previous rounds of negotiations, the Lebanese army—which is not a party to the conflict—would assume control of the pilot zones and oversee the disarmament of Hezbollah fighters, while Israeli forces would gradually withdraw from those areas.

The first pilot zones were established last month in the southern Lebanese towns of Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh.

Lebanese and Israeli representatives met in Rome from Tuesday through Thursday to discuss the continued implementation of the security framework between the two countries.

The U.S.-brokered agreement calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon while the Lebanese army extends its deployment and assumes responsibility for disarming Hezbollah in the designated areas.

The latest round of negotiations focused on what U.S. officials described as the "full implementation of the framework agreement."

Talks between Lebanon and Israel have been ongoing since mid-April, marking the first direct political negotiations between the two countries in decades. Although Lebanon and Israel remain technically at war and have no diplomatic relations, the dialogue has continued under U.S. mediation.

Despite signing the framework agreement on June 26, Israeli forces remain deployed in parts of southern Lebanon and continue conducting military operations targeting Hezbollah members.