Lebanon’s prime minister is asking Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war

BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanon’s interim prime minister on Friday asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in war between Israel and Hezbollah and appeared to urge it to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to withdraw from the Israel-Lebanon border.

As a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei visited Lebanon for talks, Lebanese officials said a US proposal for a ceasefire deal had been passed on to Hezbollah aimed at ending 13 months of firefights between Israel and the group.

Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and has financed and armed the Lebanese militant group for decades. Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas’s surprise attack into Israel on October 7, 2023 ignited the war in Gaza – leading to exchanges between the two sides ever since.

Since late September, Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrage of fire into Israel. More than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire – 80% of them in the past month – Lebanon’s health ministry says.

According to Lebanese media, US Ambassador Lisa Johnson handed over a draft of a proposed cease-fire agreement to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been leading the negotiations, representing Hezbollah.

A Lebanese official confirmed that Beirut has received a copy of a draft proposal based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006. A Lebanese politician said that Hezbollah officials had received the draft, was by studying it and wanted to express their opinion about it to Berri. The politician, who is familiar with Hezbollah’s work, and the official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks.

UN Resolution 1701 states, among other things, that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces should operate in southern Lebanon, meaning that Hezbollah will have to end its presence there. That provision was never implemented. Lebanon accuses Israel of also violating the resolution by maintaining a small, disputed border area and conducting frequent military overflights over Lebanon.

The Lebanese official did not provide details other than to say that Israel insisted that some guarantees be included. The US Embassy refused to either confirm or deny the reports.

In talks with Khamenei’s adviser, Ali Larijani, Lebanon’s interim prime minister, Najib Mikati, called on Iran to help implement resolution 1701. He said the Lebanese government wants the war to end and the resolution to be implemented “in all its details,” according to a statement on the talks from his office.

Mikati, who has become more critical of Iran’s role in Lebanon in recent weeks, also said the government wants Iran to help Lebanon’s national unity and not take any position in support of one party against another.

Iran’s support for Hezbollah has helped the group, the most powerful faction among Lebanon’s Shiite Muslims, dominate the country’s politics for the past decade.

After meeting Mikati and Berri, Larijani said the main goal of his visit was “to say loudly that we will stand by the government and people of Lebanon.”

Asked if he was trying to thwart US ceasefire mediation, Larijani said: “We are not trying to blow up any effort, but we want to solve the problem and we will stand by Lebanon, whatever the circumstances.”

An Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern province of Nabatiyeh killed a mother, father and their three children on Friday, state media said, while three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tire province.

Israeli forces also carried out new attacks around the Lebanese capital on Friday. Three waves of airstrikes hit buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs and set off explosions in the area known as Dahiyeh.

In an earlier attack on the southeastern outskirts of Beirut, photos taken by an Associated Press photographer captured a rocket about to hit an 11-story residential building in the Tayouneh neighborhood — then showed an explosion of flame erupting from the side of the building. Much of a lower level of the building was smashed to rubble.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on why the Civil Defense Center was targeted late Thursday. Lebanon’s Civil Defense Forces have no affiliation with Hezbollah and provide vital rescue and medical services in one of the world’s most war-torn nations.

The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on 7 October 2023 killed around 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and abduction of 250 others.