Progress was achieved Wednesday in the Lebanese-Israeli talks in Rome and the implementation of the so-called pilot zones in south Lebanon will begin within days or hours, Baabda sources said.

Israeli forces carried out huge detonations at dawn and in the morning in a number of valleys and homes in the southern towns of Beit Yahoun, Khiam and al-Qantara.

President Joseph Aoun told a delegation from the Orthodox Gathering on Wednesday that "the framework formula is the best possible option and has begun to yield results.”

Lebanon and Israel concluded the first day of Washington-mediated talks in Rome on Tuesday, a U.S. official said, as Israel said it was ready to move forward with plans to withdraw from two parts of southern Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities have arrested a man close to Hezbollah, accusing him of spying for Israel and of providing intel that led to the killing of commanders in the Iran-backed group, a judicial official told AFP.

Lebanese Presidency sources said Tuesday that the Rome talks between Lebanon and Israel were discussing the issue of the so-called pilot zones in order to issue a decision regarding them.

Israel's foreign minister said Tuesday he expected ongoing talks in Rome with Lebanon to help implement an agreement on two "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon, referring to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from those areas.

"We are ready to move forward implementing these two pilot zones. I hope and tend to believe that this round of discussions in Rome will promote it," Gideon Saar told journalists at a press conference in Jerusalem.

Commenting on the renewed confrontation between Tehran and Washington, Speaker Nabih Berri has said that "the atmosphere in the region is negative and gloomy as a result of the current escalation," expressing hope that it "will be contained before it worsens, especially since there is ultimately no alternative to returning to negotiations and the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding."

Israeli artillery shelling on Tuesday targeted the Wadi al-Hujeir valley in southern Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun on Tuesday deplored Iran’s attacks against several Gulf states and Jordan -- which followed U.S. strikes on the Islamic republic -- as well as an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels against an airport in southern Saudi Arabia that followed an attack on Sanaa’s airport.