Lebanon’s prime minister asks Iran to help ensure a ceasefire

By BASSEM MROUE and DAVID RISING, Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s interim prime minister on Friday asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in war between Israel and Hezbollah and apparently prompted him to persuade the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to withdraw from the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The prime minister said this during talks with Ali Larijani, the chief adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Larijani’s visit to Lebanon comes as the United States continues to push both sides for an agreement to end the 13-month-old firefight between Israel and Hezbollah.

Iran is the main sponsor of Hezbollah and has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group for decades. Hezbollah launched a rocket attack on northern Israel the day after a surprise attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip – since then the two sides have been at loggerheads. The United States, Canada and the European Union have recognized Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Since the end of September, Israel has dramatically increased its bombing of Lebanon, vowing to destroy Hezbollah and end its shelling of Israel. More than 3,300 people were killed in Lebanon as a result of Israeli shelling – 80% of them in the last month – reports the Ministry of Health of Lebanon.

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A bomb dropped from an Israeli plane hits a building in Tayyoun, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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According to Lebanese media, US Ambassador Lisa Johnson handed over a draft of the proposed cease-fire agreement to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry, who was leading the negotiations on behalf of Hezbollah.

A Lebanese official confirmed that Beirut had received a copy of the draft proposal based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.

The resolution said, among other things, that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should operate in southern Lebanon, meaning Hezbollah should end its presence there. This provision was never implemented. Lebanon accuses Israel of also violating the resolution by holding a small disputed border area and conducting frequent military flights over Lebanon.

The Lebanese official did not provide details, other than that Israel is pushing for some safeguards to be included. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media about ongoing negotiations.

The US Embassy refused to confirm or deny the information.

During talks with Larijani, interim Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on Iran to help implement Resolution 1701. He said the Lebanese government wanted the war to end and the resolution to be implemented “in all its details,” according to a released statement on the talks . 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 that favors one party against another.

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

After meeting with Mikati and Berry, Larijani said the main purpose of his visit was to “say loudly that we will support the government and the people of Lebanon.”

Asked if he was trying to obstruct the U.S. mediation of the ceasefire, Larijani said: “We are not trying to undermine any effort, but we want to solve the problem and we will support Lebanon, whatever the circumstances.”

Larijani held similar negotiations a day earlier in Syria with President Bashar Assad. Syria’s state news agency said Assad and Larijani discussed “the ongoing aggression against Palestine and Lebanon and the need to end it.”

While Larijani was in Beirut, Israeli forces launched another attack on the southeastern outskirts of the city.

Photos taken by an Associated Press photographer show a rocket about to hit an 11-story apartment building in Beirut’s Tayyoune district, followed by flames shooting out from the side of the building. Much of the lower level of the building was reduced to rubble.

There were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military warned before the attack, saying that it was an object belonging to Hezbollah.

Near the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek, rescue teams continued to search through the rubble on Friday at the site of an Israeli strike that hit a civil defense center in the town of Douris the previous evening.

So far, the bodies of 13 Lebanese Civil Defense personnel and volunteers have been recovered, the agency said, along with some other remains that will require DNA testing.

Israel has expanded its operations in Lebanon even as it continues its campaign in the Gaza Strip, vowing to destroy Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.

Funerals were held on Friday for 11 Palestinians killed on Thursday in a series of Israeli airstrikes in and around the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. Among the dead are two children, whom the AP reporter saw with the other dead.

On Thursday, the 10 elected members of the UN Security Council circulated a draft resolution demanding an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza. The US, Israel’s closest ally, holds the key to the UN Security Council passing the resolution. The four other permanent members — Russia, China, Britain and France — are expected to support or abstain.

The Israel-Hamas war started after the Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel On October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and kidnapping 250 others.

Israeli bombing and ground offensives since then have killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say. Officials did not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but said more than half of the dead were women and children.

Growth is reported from Bangkok. Abby Sewell in Beirut and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Originally published: November 15, 2024 at 8:55 AM PST