Middle East latest: Workers search through rubble in eastern Lebanon where Israeli strike killed 13

Rescue teams were searching Friday through rubble for missing people near the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon where an Israeli strike hit a civil defense center the night before, killing at least 13.

All those killed in the strike on the town of Douris near Baalbek were employees and volunteers of the emergency services agency, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense. Some other remains were also recovered and will require DNA testing, it said in a statement.

The General Directorate of Civil Defense expressed “deep regret over this direct attack on its members." Staffers “will continue to respond to relief calls and continue with its humanitarian mission, no matter how great the challenges and sacrifices are," it said.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of using ambulances and medical facilities to transport and store weapons. The Israeli military has not commented on the strike on the civil defense center in Baalbek.

Israel has been striking deeper inside Lebanon since September as it escalates the war against Hezbollah. After 13 months of war, more than 3,300 people have been killed and more than 14,400 wounded, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.

The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s blistering 13-month war in Gaza has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The fighting has left some 76 people dead in Israel, including 31 soldiers.

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BEIRUT — A visiting Iranian official said after meeting top Lebanese officials Friday that Tehran “stands by Lebanon's government and people” and that it backs any decision taken by the Lebanese government and the militant Hezbollah group.

Asked if he was trying to disrupt U.S. efforts to end the Israel-Hezbollah war, Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, said: "We are not trying to blow up any effort but we want to solve the problem and whatever the circumstances are we will stand by Lebanon.”

He added that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters and allies are responsible for igniting the conflict. He also expressed hope after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that difficulties facing Lebanon will be solved.

Larijani denied reports that Iran has abandoned Hezbollah, dismissing such claims by saying: “You take jokes seriously.”

He added that Iran “will back the resistance (Hezbollah) under all circumstances.”

Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister, said he urged Iran Friday to help his government implement a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

The resolution says that no side should have armed presence in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel apart from the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers.

Mikati said Lebanon also wants Iran to help the country’s national unity and not take any stance that backs one Lebanese side against another.

JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities said blood supplies have been transported into Gaza in the latest move to ease the humanitarian suffering in the Palestinian territory.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, said the blood supplies entered via Kerem Shalom crossing on Thursday and are expected to reach Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis in the coming days.

Throughout the 13 month conflict, hospitals in Gaza have been struggling to treat Palestinian casualties without basic medical supplies, including blood and bandages.

The announcement from COGAT comes as Israel faces mounting international pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, particularly in the war-ravaged northern areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya where Israel has intensified its military operations against Hamas.

COGAT facilitated at least two aid deliveries to the far north during November after a month where virtually no supplies reached these areas.

BEIRUT — An Iranian official flew to Beirut on Friday to discuss the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah war with top Lebanese officials as Israel’s air force struck areas on the edge of the Lebanese capital.

The visit of Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, comes amid attempts led by the United States to end the 13-month war that broadened in September into southern and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Lebanese media reported that the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon has handed over a draft of a proposed deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

A Lebanese official confirmed that the U.S. ambassador to Beirut, Lisa Johnson, visited Berri but refused to say whether a draft was handed over. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks. The U.S. Embassy refused to either confirm or deny the reports.

Larijani flew in Friday from neighboring Syria where he held similar talks a day earlier with President Bashar Assad. Syria’s state news agency said Assad and Larijani discussed the “ongoing aggression on Palestine and Lebanon and the necessity of stopping it.”

Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.

BEIRUT — Rescue teams were searching for missing people through rubble near the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon where an Israeli strike hit a civil defense center the night before.

Thirteen bodies were recovered, all of them employees and volunteers of the emergency services agency, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense. Some other remains that will require DNA testing were also recovered, it said in a statement.

The General Directorate of Civil Defense expressed “deep regret over this direct attack on its members.” Staffers “will continue to respond to relief calls and continue with its humanitarian mission, no matter how great the challenges and sacrifices are,” it said.

Rafik Shehada, head of the union of municipalities in the Baalbek region, described the strike as “barbaric” and said that rescue teams were still searching for missing people who had been inside the center at the time and were presumed dead.

Human Rights Watch in a report issued in late October said that it had documented three incidents that it described as “apparent war crimes” in which Israeli forces struck medica “medical personnel, transports, and facilities.” At that time, it said that Israeli strikes had killed at least 163 health and rescue workers across Lebanon and damaged 158 ambulances and 55 hospitals during a year of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of using ambulances and medical facilities to transport and store weapons. The Israeli military has not commented on the strike on the civil defense center near Baalbek.

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council’s 10 elected members have circulated a draft resolution demanding “an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire” in Gaza.

The draft resolution, which was sent to the council’s five permanent members Thursday, reiterates the council’s demand “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” seized during Hamas’ surprise attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel says about 100 are still being held, though not all are believed to be alive.

The council’s 10 elected members – Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, Algeria, Guyana, South Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia – circulated the draft after they agreed to it.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, holds the key to whether the Security Council adopts the resolution. The four other permanent members – Russia, China, Britain and France -- are expected to support it or abstain.

The draft, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, also demands immediate access for Gaza’s civilian population to humanitarian aid and services essential for their survival.

It “underscores” that the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA “remains the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza.”

Israel’s parliament passed two laws last month banning UNRWA’s operations in the Palestinian territories, which take effect in 90 days.

The draft resolution would also express the council’s “deep alarm over the ongoing catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza including the lack of adequate healthcare services and the state of food insecurity creating a risk of famine notably in the north.”

For more Middle East news: https://apnews.com/hub/middle-east

Civil defense workers extinguish a fire as smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinians collect clean drinking water at a desalination plant that now operates round the clock in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, a resource they barely had any access to during the war, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners react during eulogies for Israeli soldier Capt. Itay Marcovich, who was killed in action in Lebanon, during his funeral in Kokhav Yair, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Mourners react during eulogies for Israeli soldier Capt. Itay Marcovich, who was killed in action in Lebanon, during his funeral in Kokhav Yair, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of Maghazi in the Gaza Strip, during their funeral at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Civil defense workers extinguish a fire as smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises from a building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A bomb dropped from an Israeli jet prepares to hit a building in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Civil defense workers extinguish a fire as smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Residents check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Residents check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Residents check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

BEIRUT (AP) — A top Iranian official pledged his country's unwavering support for Lebanon after talks Friday with Lebanese leaders on the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah, which came as the United States continued actively pushing both sides to agree to a new cease-fire deal.

Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said that he hoped circumstances would soon improve in Lebanon so that displaced people could return home.

“The main aim of our visit is to loudly say that we will stand by Lebanon’s government and people,” Larijani told reporters after separate meetings with parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

The U.S. has been trying to broker an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which came as the 13-month Israel-Hamas war broadened in September into southern and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Iran, and Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ surprise attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 ignited the war in Gaza.

According to reports in Lebanese media, U.S. Ambassador Lisa Johnson has handed over a draft of a proposed deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war to Berri, who has been leading the talks representing Hezbollah.

A Lebanese official confirmed Friday that Johnson visited Berri, but refused to say whether a draft was handed over.

Another Lebanese official confirmed that Beirut has received a copy of a draft proposal that the U.S. sees as suitable to end the Israel-Hezbollah war based on U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 that ended the war in summer of 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.

The official did not give details other than to say Israel was insisting that some guarantees be included.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity, because they weren't authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks.

The U.S. Embassy refused to either confirm or deny the reports.

Larijani flew in Friday from neighboring Syria where he held similar talks a day earlier with President Bashar Assad. Syria’s state news agency said that Assad and Larijani discussed the “ongoing aggression on Palestine and Lebanon and the necessity of stopping it.”

In addition to supporting Hamas, Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.

Asked if he was visiting to try and thwart U.S. efforts to end the Israel-Hezbollah war, Larijani said, “We are not trying to blow up any effort, but we want to solve the problem and we will stand by Lebanon, whatever the circumstances.”

Mikati, who in recent weeks has become more critical of Iran’s role in Lebanon and has been calling on Tehran not to intervene in the country’s internal affairs, told Larijani that Lebanon wants the ongoing war to end and that work is ongoing to reach a cease-fire, according to comments released by his office.

“Contacts are ongoing in this framework with the aim of reaching an understanding,” Mikati said.

He added that Lebanon wants to see implemented the U.N. resolution that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war “in all its details.” That resolution says that there should be no armed presence in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel other than the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers.

Larijani's visit to the Lebanese capital was punctuated with a renewed aerial attack by Israel on the southeastern edge of the city.

An image captured by an Associated Press photographer showed what appeared to be an 11-story residential building in the Tayouneh area, a few kilometers or miles from central Beirut, about to be hit by a bomb, then bursting into flames.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the bomb hit a lower level of the building, turning much of it to rubble. The Israeli military had issued a warning before the attack, saying it was a facility that belonged to Hezbollah.

Funerals were held Friday for 11 people killed Thursday in a series of Israeli airstrikes in and around the central Gaza Strip city of Deir al-Balah.

The wounded and dead were all taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where they were seen by an AP reporter. Two children were among the dead.

The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said Friday that a total of 28 people had been killed and 120 others wounded in the past 24 hours.

On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council’s 10 elected members circulated a draft resolution demanding “an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire” in Gaza as well.

The draft resolution, which was sent to the council’s five permanent members, reiterates the council’s demand “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” seized during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel in 2023. Israel says about 100 are still being held, though not all are believed to be alive.

The U.S., Israel’s closest ally, holds the key to whether the U.N. Security Council adopts the resolution. The four other permanent members — Russia, China, Britain and France — are expected to support it or abstain.

The draft, obtained Thursday by the AP, also demands immediate access for Gaza’s civilian population to humanitarian aid and services essential for their survival.

The draft resolution would also express the council’s “deep alarm over the ongoing catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza including the lack of adequate healthcare services and the state of food insecurity creating a risk of famine notably in the north.”

It would deplore all attacks against civilians and “civilian objects” and all acts of terrorism.

The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others.

Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. The officials don't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed have been women and children.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,200 people have been killed and more than 14,000 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported.

Lebanon has also suffered around $8.5 billion in physical damage and economic loss, according to a World Bank report released Thursday.

In the town of Douris near the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, rescue teams continued searching through the rubble Friday at the site of an Israeli strike that hit a civil defense center the night before.

The Lebanese Civil Defense said in a statement that 13 bodies had been recovered, all of them employees and volunteers of the emergency services agency, as well as some other remains that will require DNA testing.

In a statement, the General Directorate of Civil Defense expressed “deep regret over this direct attack on its members” and said that its centers “will continue to respond to relief calls and continue with its humanitarian mission, no matter how great the challenges and sacrifices are.”

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

Civil defense workers extinguish a fire as smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Residents check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Civil defense workers extinguish a fire as smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A bomb dropped from an Israeli jet prepares to hit a building in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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

Thick smoke and flames erupt from an Israeli airstrike on Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A bomb dropped from an Israeli jet prepares to hit a building in Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)