Iran backs Lebanon in cease-fire talks, seeks end to 'problems'

BEIRUT, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Iran will back any decision taken by Lebanon in talks to secure a cease-fire with Israel, a senior Iranian official said on Friday, signalling Tehran wants to see an end to a conflict that has dealt heavy blows to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iran's supreme leader, spoke during a visit to Beirut as Israel kept up its intensified bombardment of Hezbollah-controlled areas of the Lebanese capital.

Israel has this week stepped up airstrikes against the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs - an escalation that has coincided with indications of movement in U.S.-led diplomatic contacts towards ending the conflict.

The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal on Thursday to Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is endorsed by Hezbollah to negotiate, two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters.

The draft was Washington's first written proposal to halt fighting between its ally Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in at least several weeks, the sources said. The sources did not provide details about the contents of the proposal.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Berri, Larijani said Berri had provided him with "good clarifications".

"We are not looking to sabotage anything," Larijani said, responding to a reporter who asked whether he had come to Beirut to wreck the American draft.

"We are after a solution to the problems. We support in all circumstances the Lebanese government. Those who are disrupting are Netanyahu and his people," Larijani said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hezbollah was founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, and has been armed and financed by Tehran.

A senior diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, assessed that more time was needed to get a cease-fire done and was hopeful it could be achieved.

The diplomacy marks a last-ditch attempt by the outgoing U.S. administration to secure a Lebanon cease-fire, as efforts to end the war in Gaza appear totally adrift.

One major sticking point is Israel's demand to retain freedom to act should Hezbollah violate any agreement - a demand Lebanon has rejected.

Israel launched its offensive against Hezbollah after almost a year of cross-border hostilities ignited by the Gaza war, declaring it wanted to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate from northern Israel.

Israel's campaign has forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes in Lebanon, igniting a humanitarian crisis.

It has dealt Hezbollah serious blows, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders, using airstrikes to pound areas of Lebanon where Hezbollah has political and military sway, and sending troops into the south.

Hezbollah has kept up rocket attacks into Israel and its fighters have been battling Israeli troops in the south.

Flattened building

On Friday, an Israeli airstrike flattened a building near one of Beirut's busiest traffic junctions, Tayouneh, shaking the Lebanese capital. The targeted building was located in an area where the southern suburbs meet other parts of the city, a more central target than most that Israel has hit.

Ahead of the latest airstrikes, the Israeli military issued a warning on social media identifying buildings in the southern suburbs and telling residents to evacuate, saying they were near Hezbollah facilities.

The sound of an incoming missile could be heard in footage showing the airstrike near Tayouneh. The targeted building turned into a cloud of rubble and debris which billowed into the adjacent Horsh Beirut, the city's main park.

On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel's energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, told Reuters that prospects for a cease-fire were the most promising since the conflict began.

The Washington Post reported that Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon cease-fire with the aim of delivering an early foreign policy win to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to be strongly pro-Israel.

According to Lebanon's health ministry, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,386 people through Wednesday since Oct. 7, 2023, the vast majority of them since late September. It does not distinguish between civilian casualties and fighters.

Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southern Lebanon over the last year, according to Israel.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Timour Azhari, Riham Alkoussa and Tom Perry in Beirut; Clauda Tanios, Jana Choukeir, Nadine Awadalla and Tala Ramadan in Dubai; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Peter Graff)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iran backs Lebanon in cease-fire talks, seeks end to 'problems'