Lebanon’s interim prime minister asked Iran on Friday to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah and appeared to be urging Iran to persuade the radical groups to agree to a deal that could force the country to withdraw troops from the Israel-Lebanon border.
A proposal for a US cease-fire deal has been forwarded to Hezbollah aimed at ending the 13-month standoff between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanese officials said, as senior advisers to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei visited Lebanon for talks on the firefight. Iran is a major supporter of Hezbollah and has funded and armed the Lebanese militant group for decades. The day after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 10, Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel. The war in Gaza began on December 7, 2023, and has been rife between the two sides ever since.
Israel has dramatically stepped up its bombing of Lebanon since late September, vowing to weaken Hezbollah and end Israeli shelling. Israeli artillery fire in Lebanon has killed more than 3,400 people, 80% of them in the past month, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
A Lebanese official confirmed that Beirut had received a copy of a proposal based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended Israel’s last war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. A Lebanese politician said Hezbollah officials had received the draft, were studying it and would give their opinion to Beri. Both the politician and the official familiar with Hezbollah’s work requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks. In addition, UN Resolution 1701 stipulates that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces may operate in southern Lebanon, meaning Hezbollah must cease its presence there. The provision was never implemented. Lebanon also accuses Israel of violating the resolution by maintaining a small disputed border zone and conducting frequent military overflights over Lebanon.
Lebanese officials did not provide further details, saying only that Israel insisted on including certain guarantees. The US embassy declined to confirm or deny the news.
Lebanon’s interim prime minister, Naguib Mikati, called on Iran to help implement Resolution 1701 in talks with Khamenei’s adviser Ali Larijani. He said the Lebanese government wants to end the war and that every detail of the resolution is being implemented, his office said in a statement on the talks.
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 supporting one side against the other. Iran’s support for Hezbollah over the past decade has helped the group dominate Lebanon’s most powerful Shiite faction.
After meeting Mikati and Berri, Larijani said the main purpose of his trip was to “loudly show our support for the Lebanese government and people.”
Asked if he was trying to derail the US-brokered ceasefire, Larijani said: “We are not trying to undermine any effort, but we want to solve the problem and we will support Lebanon no matter the situation.”
A mother, father and their three children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the southern province of Nabata on Friday, state media reported, while three other Israeli airstrikes in different districts of Tira province killed 6. One person was killed and 32 were injured. Israeli forces also launched new attacks around the Lebanese capital on Friday. Three waves of airstrikes hit buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs and caused explosions in the Dahiya district. In an earlier attack on the southeastern edge of Beirut, images taken by an AP photographer captured a rocket about to hit an 11-story residential building in the Tayouneh neighborhood, then showed a stream of flames shooting from the side of the building. Much of the lower level of the building was reduced to rubble.