A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Lebanese officers in Beirut Friday, the third high-profile Iranian solidarity go to because the Israel-Hezbollah conflict started in September.
Talking after assembly Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament speaker Nabih Berri — a Hezbollah ally on the forefront of ceasefire negotiations — Ali Larijani mentioned he “hopes for a swift resolution to the struggling of the Lebanese folks”.
Since September 23, Israel has escalated its bombing of targets in Lebanon, later sending in floor troops after virtually a yr of restricted, cross-border exchanges of fireplace initiated by Iran-backed Hezbollah militants over the Gaza conflict.
Worldwide mediation efforts and protracted calls by the USA and France have didn’t safe a ceasefire.
Larijani, requested by reporters about US mediation within the battle, mentioned Tehran “was not searching for to disturb something”.
“We’re in search of options,” he mentioned, and accused Israel of stalling on reaching an answer.
“We assist the Lebanese nation beneath any circumstances,” Larijani added, later additionally saying that “we assist the resistance beneath any circumstances”, referring to Hezbollah which is financed and armed by Tehran.
Larijani was requested in regards to the implementation of UN Safety Council Decision 1701, which ended the final main Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2006, as a possible resolution.
“Something that the Lebanese authorities and the Lebanese resistance might settle for, we’re for,” he mentioned.
Decision 1701 mentioned the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers needs to be the one armed forces deployed within the south, the place Hezbollah at the moment holds nice sway.
Since 2006, that decision has helped maintain the border area largely calm, till violence flared in October 2023 when Hezbollah launched assaults on Israel in said assist of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
The low-intensity clashes continued for practically a yr earlier than escalating into full-blown conflict in late September.
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