LEBANESE interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked Iran today to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, appearing to urge Tehran to convince the militant group to accept a deal requiring its withdrawal from the Israel-Lebanon border.

Mr Mikati made the comments during talks in Beirut with Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Hezbollah, whose main backer is Iran, began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after the Hamas carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, triggering the current Gaza genocide.

In late September, Israel sharply escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, leading to the death of more than 3,300 people, 80 per cent of them in the past month, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Lebanese media reported that US Ambassador Lisa Johnson had handed over a draft of a proposed ceasefire deal to parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been leading the talks representing Hezbollah.

A Lebanese official confirmed that Beirut has received a copy of a draft proposal based on United Nations security council resolution 1701, which ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

Among other things, the resolution said that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should operate in southern Lebanon, meaning Hezbollah would have to leave the area, though the provision was never implemented.

Lebanon accuses Israel of also violating the resolution by retaining a small, disputed border area and conducting frequent military flights over Lebanon.

Mr Larijani said his visit’s main aim was “to loudly say that we will stand by Lebanon’s government and people.”

While he was in Beirut, Israeli forces carried out a new strike on the south-eastern edge of the city, badly damaging an 11-storey residential building.

There were no reports of casualties, with the Israeli military having issued a warning, claiming that the target was a Hezbollah facility.

Near the eastern city of Baalbek, rescue teams continued searching rubble at the site of an Israeli strike on Thursday night that hit a civil defence center in the town of Douris, killing at least 13 employees and volunteers.

Earlier that day, Israeli air attacks on the Syrian capital Damascus killed at least 15 people and wounded another 16, Syria’s state news agency said.

In Gaza, funerals were held yesterday for 11 Palestinians killed the day before by Israeli air strikes in and around the central city of Deir al-Balah. Two children were among the dead.

On Thursday, the UN security council’s 10 elected members circulated a draft resolution demanding “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.