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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Iranian official says Tehran backs Lebanese government and its people

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.

Israeli military aid says blood supplies have been transported into Gaza to ease humanitarian crisis

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.

Iranian official in Beirut in talks to end Israel-Hezbollah war

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.

Search continues in eastern Lebanon town where an airstrike killed 13

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.

UN Security Council draft resolution demands “immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire” in Gaza

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.”

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