BEIRUT — 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 ceasefire proposal had been forwarded to Hezbollah, aimed at ending 13 months of exchange of fire between Israel and the group.

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

Since late September, Israel has dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its bombing of 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 a draft of a proposed ceasefire agreement to Lebanese Parliament 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 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, studied it and would express his 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 are to operate in southern Lebanon, which means that Hezbollah must 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 that Israel insisted that certain 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 every detail,” according to a statement on the talks from his office.

Mikati, who in recent weeks has become more critical of Iran’s role in Lebanon, also said the government wants Iran to help Lebanon’s national unity and not take a position that supports 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 Berri, Larijani said the main purpose of his visit was “to say loudly that we will stand by the government and people of Lebanon.”

Asked if he was trying to scuttle the US ceasefire mediation, Larijani said: “We are not trying to blow up any efforts, but we want to solve the problem and we will stand by Lebanon, regardless of 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 injured 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 strike on the southeastern edge of Beirut, photos taken by an Associated Press photographer caught a rocket about to hit an 11-story apartment building in the Tayouneh neighborhood — then showed an explosion of flames shooting out of the side of the building. A large portion of a lower level of the building was smashed to rubble.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in either strike. In each case, the Israeli military had issued a warning before the attack, saying it targeted Hezbollah facilities.

Near the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, rescue workers called off their search for survivors of an Israeli attack on a civil defense center, killing 14 civil defense workers and volunteers.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on why the civilian defense center was targeted late Thursday. Lebanon’s Civil Defense Forces are not affiliated with Hezbollah and provide critical rescue and medical services in one of the world’s most war-torn nations.

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

Funerals were held on Friday for 11 Palestinians killed Thursday in a series of Israeli airstrikes in and around the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Two children were among the dead, along with the other dead of an AP reporter.

On Thursday, the UN Security Council’s ten elected members circulated a draft resolution calling for “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, holds the key to whether the UN Security Council adopts the resolution. The four other permanent members – Russia, China, Britain and France – are expected to support or abstain from voting.

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

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives since then have killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say. The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants but say more than half of those killed have been women and children.

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