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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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.

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.

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.”

For more Middle East news: https://apnews.com/hub/middle-east

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mourners react during eulogies for Israeli soldier Capt. Itay Marcovich, who was killed in action in Lebanon, during his funeral in Kokhav Yair, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Security officers and rescuers gather at a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Mourners react during eulogies for Israeli soldier Capt. Itay Marcovich, who was killed in action in Lebanon, during his funeral in Kokhav Yair, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Mourners react during eulogies for Israeli soldier Capt. Itay Marcovich, who was killed in action in Lebanon, during his funeral in Kokhav Yair, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Smoke rises from a building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of Maghazi in the Gaza Strip, during their funeral at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians collect clean drinking water at a desalination plant that now operates round the clock in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, a resource they barely had any access to during the war, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Smoke rises between buildings hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises between buildings hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A man passes in front of destroyed buildings that were hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises between buildings hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from buildings hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of Maghazi in the Gaza Strip, during their funeral at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners carry their relatives who were killed in the Israeli bombardment of Maghazi in the Gaza Strip, during their funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of Maghazi in the Gaza Strip, during their funeral at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of Maghazi in the Gaza Strip, during their funeral at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Smoke rises between buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A man passes in front of destroyed buildings that were hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Firefighters check a destroyed building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Residents check their destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A man checks his destroyed shop at a street that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire as smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met on Monday in western Gujarat state to push for deeper economic and security ties between the South Asian nation and Europe’s largest economy.

Modi and Merz held talks in the city of Gandhinagar, where the two countries signed various agreements to enhance cooperation in the defense sector, skill development, health and education, as both nations seek to reduce dependence on China and bolster economic ties.

After the bilateral talks, Modi noted that Germany is India’s most important trading partner in the European Union and said both leaders were seeking to expand those ties.

He said the two countries are pursuing new projects in areas such as climate action, energy and mining of rare earth elements, and have also agreed on a road map to boost cooperation between their defense industries for joint development and production.

“We want to elevate the relations between India and Germany to an even higher level,” Modi said.

Germany has not traditionally had close defense ties with India, but the two sides have been trying to boost cooperation in the sector. Germany’s Thyssenkrupp is expected to partner with Indian firms to build six advanced conventional submarines in India, part of New Delhi’s ongoing efforts to modernize its naval capabilities.

Merz said India and Germany share “tremendous economic potential,” and the two countries are working together to strengthen ties in the field of security policy and defense cooperation.

“India is a desired partner, a partner of choice for Germany,” Merz said, according to a live official translation. He added that negotiations on a free trade agreement between India and the EU need to be concluded to fully realize the potential of economic ties between the two countries.

The two sides also signed an agreement that makes it easier for Indians to work in Germany's health care sector.

Merz’s visit to India — also his first to an Asian country since he took office last year — comes ahead of a planned India-EU summit later this month, where leaders hope to make progress on a long-pending free trade agreement. India hopes to deepen economic engagement with Europe in the face of U.S. tariff rates of 50%.

During his visit, Merz toured the Sabarmati Ashram, once home to independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, and attended the International Kite Festival at the Sabarmati riverfront. Modi and Merz flew kites during the event.

Merz, who is accompanied by a large business delegation, is later scheduled to travel to southern Bengaluru city to meet Indian and German business and technology leaders.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi fly a kite during the inauguration of International kite festival in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ride together in a vehicle during the inauguration of International kite festival in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves as they arrive for the inauguration of the International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepare to fly a kiteduring the inauguration of International kite festival in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz fly kites during the inauguration of International kite festival in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)