By BASSEM MROUE and DAVID RISING, Associated Press.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s interim prime minister on Friday asked Iran to help broker a ceasefire in the region War between Israel and Hezbollah and appeared to urge the militant group to agree to a deal that would require it to withdraw from the Israel-Lebanon border.

An American proposal for a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending 13 months of fighting between Israel and the group has been conveyed to Hezbollah, Lebanese officials said, as one of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s top advisers visited Lebanon for talks.

Iran is one of Hezbollah’s main backers and has been financing and arming the Lebanese militant group for decades. Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel a day after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 sparked the war in Gaza, and contacts between the two sides have accelerated since then. Hamas is defined as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Since late September, Israel has dramatically increased its bombardment of Lebanon, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrage in Israel. More than 3 thousand 300 people were killed The Lebanese Ministry of Health says that 80 percent of the fires caused by Israeli fire in Lebanon occurred in the last month.

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

Heavy smoke and flames emerge from Israel’s air strike on Tayouneh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, November 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

This combination of photos shows a bomb dropped from an Israeli jet hitting a building in Tayuneh, Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday, November 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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

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

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

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

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According to Lebanese media, US Ambassador Lisa Johnson delivered the proposed draft ceasefire agreement to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is leading the talks on behalf of Hezbollah.

A Lebanese official confirmed that Beirut had received a copy of the 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 Hezbollah officials had received the draft and were working on it. They would inform Berri of their views on this matter. The politician and official, who is familiar with Hezbollah’s work, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks.

UN resolution 1701 means, among other things, that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should operate in southern Lebanon, meaning Hezbollah must end its presence there. That provision was never implemented. Lebanon accuses Israel of violating the decision by retaining a small, disputed border area and operating frequent military flights over Lebanon.

The Lebanese official did not elaborate, except to say that Israel insisted that some guarantees be included. The US Embassy declined to confirm or deny the reports.

Lebanon’s interim prime minister, Najib Mikati, called on Iran to help implement it in a meeting with Khamenei’s advisor Ali Larijani. resolution 1701. He said the Lebanese government wanted the war to end and the decision to be implemented “in full detail,” according to a statement released by his office about the talks.

Mikati, who has further criticized Iran’s role in Lebanon in recent weeks, also said that the government wants Iran to help Lebanon’s national unity and not take any stance that supports one party over another.

Iran’s support for Hezbollah has helped the group, the most powerful group among Lebanon’s Shiite Muslims, dominate the country’s politics over the past decade.

After meeting Mikati and Berri, Larijani said that the main purpose of his visit was to “say out loud that we will stand by the Lebanese government and people.”

Asked if the United States was trying to obstruct the ceasefire mediation, Larijani said: “We are not trying to thwart any efforts, but we want to solve the problem and we will stand by Lebanon no matter what the circumstances are.”

Israeli forces launched new attacks around the Lebanese capital on Friday. Three waves of airstrikes hit buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut, causing explosions in the area known as Dahiyeh.