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

When top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei visited Lebanon for talks, Lebanese officials said a US ceasefire proposal had been relayed to Hezbollah aimed at ending 13 months of gun battles between Israel and the group .

Iran is one of Hezbollah’s main backers and has been financing and arming the Lebanese militant group for decades. Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel ignited the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023 – sparking exchanges between the two sides since then.

Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombing of Lebanon, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrage inside Israel. More than 3,400 people have died in Lebanon by Israeli fire – 80% of it in the past month – says the Lebanese Health Ministry.

According to Lebanese media, US Ambassador Lisa Johnson handed a draft of a proposed ceasefire to Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who led the talks on behalf of Hezbollah.

A Lebanese official confirmed that Beirut had received a copy of a draft proposal based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. A Lebanese politician said Hezbollah officials had received the draft and were studying it. and would express their opinion about it to Berri. The politician, who knows 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 peacekeepers may operate in southern Lebanon, meaning Hezbollah would have to end its presence there. That provision was never implemented. Lebanon accuses Israel of also violating the resolution by controlling a small, disputed border area and conducting regular military flights over Lebanon.

The Lebanese official gave no details other than to say that Israel insisted that some guarantees be included. The US embassy declined to confirm or deny the reports.

In talks with Khamenei’s adviser Ali Larijani, Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged 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 from his office 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 that supports one side against another.

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

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

Asked whether he was trying to thwart US mediation on a ceasefire, Larijani said: “We are not trying to blow up any effort, but we want to solve the problem and we will support Lebanon regardless of the circumstances.”

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

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 edge of Beirut, photos taken by an Associated Press photographer captured a missile that was about to hit an 11-story residential building in the Tayouneh neighborhood – then showed a flame explosion erupting from the side of the building. Much of a lower level of the building was reduced to rubble.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in any of the strikes. In both cases, the Israeli military had issued a warning before the attack, saying it was targeting Hezbollah facilities.

Near the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek, rescuers called off their search for survivors of an Israeli attack on a civil defense center that killed 14 civil defense workers and volunteers.

The Israeli military did not respond late Thursday to a request for comment on why the Civil Defense Center was targeted. The Lebanese Civilian Armed Forces have no ties to Hezbollah and provide crucial rescue and medical services in the country one of the most war-torn countries in the world.

Israel has expanded its operations in Lebanon while continuing its campaign in the Gaza Strip, vowing to destroy Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.

Funerals were held Friday for 11 Palestinians killed Thursday in a series of Israeli airstrikes in and around the city of Deir al-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip. The dead included two children, who were seen with the other dead by an AP reporter.

On Thursday, the ten 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 whether the UN Security Council will adopt the resolution. The four other permanent members – Russia, China, Britain and France – are expected to support or abstain from the proposal.

The Israel-Hamas war started after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping 250 others.

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

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