A Lebanese official source told AFP on Saturday that Lebanon will participate in the talks scheduled for next week with Israel in Rome.

This comes as a US military delegation is holding talks in Lebanon to discuss mechanisms for implementing an Israeli withdrawal from a "pilot" area in the south of the country.

The source said "Lebanon will participate," after a diplomatic source monitoring the negotiations had earlier reported that Lebanon is conditioning Israel's withdrawal from two pilot areas in the south of the country to agree to participate in a new round of negotiations.

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Earlier, a US official said the United States has moved to the implementation phase of the general framework governing the understandings between Lebanon and Israel.

The official explained, in statements to Sky News Arabia, that the upcoming Rome meetings will be closed, and "will represent the beginning of the transition from political understandings to field implementation."

The Italian capital is preparing to host a new round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on July 15 and 16, with American mediation, as part of the follow-up to the implementation of the framework agreement announced in late June.

The US official added, "The Rome meetings will allow the two governments to refer the files to technical teams, which will handle all issues contained in the general framework, in preparation for the implementation of its provisions on the ground."

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