Latest news in the Middle East: Workers search through rubble in eastern Lebanon where an Israeli strike killed 13 people

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

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

The General Directorate of Civil Protection expressed “its deep regret at this direct attack against its members”. Staff “will continue to respond to calls for relief and continue their humanitarian mission, regardless of the magnitude of the challenges and sacrifices,” she said.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of using ambulances and medical facilities to transport and store weapons. The Israeli army made no comment on the attack on the Baalbek civil defense center.

Israel has struck deeper into Lebanon since September as it escalates its war against Hezbollah. After 13 months of war, more than 3,300 people have been killed and more than 14,400 injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The war between Israel and Hamas began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping 250 others. The Lebanese group Hezbollah began firing on Israel on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s bitter 13-month war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to local health authorities who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The fighting left some 76 people dead in Israel, including 31 soldiers.

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Iranian official says Tehran supports Lebanese government and its people

BEIRUT — A visiting Iranian official said after meeting with senior Lebanese officials Friday that Tehran “stands with the Lebanese government and people” and supports any decision made by the Lebanese government and the Hezbollah militant group.

Asked if he was trying to disrupt U.S. efforts to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Ali Larijani, adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said: “We are not trying to exploding efforts, but we want to solve the problem and whatever it is. the circumstances are that we will be alongside Lebanon.

He added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters and allies are responsible for sparking the conflict. He also expressed hope, after his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, that the difficulties facing Lebanon will be resolved.

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

He added that Iran “will support the resistance (Hezbollah) in all circumstances.”

Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s interim prime minister, said Friday he had urged Iran to help his government implement a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in summer 2006.

The resolution states that no party should have an armed presence in southern Lebanon, along the border with Israel, apart from the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping forces.

Mikati said Lebanon also wants Iran to contribute to the country’s national unity and not adopt any position that supports one Lebanese side against another.

Israeli military aid says blood supplies flown to Gaza to ease humanitarian crisis

JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities say supplies of blood have been transported to Gaza in the latest effort to ease humanitarian suffering in the Palestinian territory.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for humanitarian aid to Gaza, said the blood supplies entered via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Thursday and were expected to reach Nasser Hospital in the southern town of Khan Younis in the coming days. days.

Throughout the 13-month conflict, Gaza’s hospitals struggled to treat wounded Palestinians without basic medical supplies, including blood and bandages.

COGAT’s announcement comes as Israel faces growing 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 stepped up its operations military against Hamas.

COGAT facilitated at least two aid deliveries to the far north in November, following a month in which virtually no aid reached those areas.

Iranian official in Beirut to discuss ending Israel-Hezbollah war

BEIRUT — An Iranian official visited Beirut on Friday to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah with senior Lebanese officials as the Israeli air force struck areas on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital .

The visit by Ali Larijani, adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, comes amid U.S.-led attempts to end the 13-month war that spread in September to the south and east of Iran. Lebanon as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Lebanese media reported that the US ambassador to Lebanon handed Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri a draft agreement aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

A Lebanese official confirmed that the US ambassador to Beirut, Lisa Johnson, had visited Berri, but declined to say whether a draft had been delivered. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks. The US Embassy refused to confirm or deny this information.

Larijani arrived Friday from neighboring Syria, where he had held similar talks the day before with President Bashar Assad. Syria’s official news agency said Assad and Larijani discussed “the ongoing aggression against Palestine and Lebanon and the need to put an end to it.”

Iran is one of Hezbollah’s main supporters and has financed and armed the Lebanese militant group for decades.

Search continues in eastern Lebanese town where airstrike killed 13 people

BEIRUT — Rescue teams were searching for missing people in the rubble near the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek, where an Israeli strike hit a civil defense center the previous night.

Thirteen bodies were found, all emergency services employees and volunteers, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense. Other remains that will require DNA testing have also been found, it said in a statement.

The General Directorate of Civil Protection expressed “its deep regret at this direct attack against its members”. Staff “will continue to respond to calls for relief and continue their humanitarian mission, regardless of the magnitude of the challenges and sacrifices,” he said.

Rafik Shehada, president of the union of municipalities in the Baalbek region, called the strike “barbaric” and said rescue teams were still searching for the missing people who were inside the center at the time there and who were presumed dead.

Human Rights Watch, in a report released in late October, said it documented three incidents it called “apparent war crimes” in which Israeli forces struck “medical personnel, transportation, and facilities.” . At the time, he claimed that Israeli strikes had killed at least 163 health and relief 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 army has not commented on the attack on the civil defense center near Baalbek.

Draft UN Security Council resolution demands “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS – The 10 elected members of the UN Security Council have circulated a draft resolution demanding “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.

The draft resolution, which was sent to the five permanent members of the Council on Thursday, reiterates the Council’s demand “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” captured during the surprise Hamas attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023. Israel says around 100 are still detained, but not all are believed to be alive.

The 10 elected members of the council – Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, Algeria, Guyana, South Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia – circulated the draft after accepting it.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, holds the key to whether the Security Council adopts the resolution. The other four 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 to their survival.

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

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

The draft resolution would also express the Council’s “deep concern about the current catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, including the lack of adequate health services and the state of food insecurity creating a risk of famine, particularly in the north.”