Beirut, Lebanon - Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday urged the United Nations to pass a resolution calling for an "immediate" ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah group.

In a televised address, Mikati emphasized his government's commitment to deploy the army on the border with Israel as part of a cessation of hostilities, and said Hezbollah agreed on the matter.

Mikati said Lebanon's foreign ministry would ask the UN Security Council to issue a resolution calling for a "full and immediate ceasefire."

He said his government was committed to "the full application of Resolution 1701," which was adopted in 2006 and called for the Lebanese army and peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the south of the country.

Ukraine conflict Zelensky urges "strong" response to Russian hypersonic missile strike

Lebanon is committed to "the deployment of the army in the south and the bolstering of its presence along the border," he said.

"Hezbollah is in agreement on this issue," he added.

A government source had previously told AFP that Hezbollah informed Lebanese authorities it had accepted a ceasefire with Israel on September 27, the day an Israeli strike killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Previously, the group had said it would only accept a truce if there was also one with its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza.

Mikati also condemned attacks on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon as a "crime," with peacekeepers targeted two days in a row by Israeli forces, according to Lebanese official media and the foreign ministry.

Daily Horoscope Today's horoscope: Free daily horoscope for Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Lebanon's foreign ministry said the Friday bombing targeted "watchtowers and the main UNIFIL base in Ras Naqura, and on the Sri Lankan battalion's base, which led to a number of wounded."

The official National News Agency said an Israeli "Merkava tank targeted one of the UNIFIL towers on the main road linking Tyre and Naqura," wounding personnel from a Sri Lankan battalion.

An Israeli air strike killed at least 22 people and injured 117 in central Beirut on Thursday. "The head of Hezbollah's security apparatus, Wafiq Safa, was targeted," a source close to the group said, requesting anonymity to discuss the matter.

In central Beirut, AFPTV footage showed two plumes of smoke billowing from densely packed buildings after Thursday's deadly strike, with people seen scouring the rubble. Residents, some weeping, checked their homes and asked for news of neighbors, with one saying his wife was in intensive care.

"There are a lot of families living here," many displaced from south Lebanon and who have relatives in the neighborhood, said Bilal Othman.

"Do they (Israel) want to tell us there is no safe place left in this country?"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address to the people of Lebanon on Tuesday: "You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza."

A year of Israeli aggression has killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon and forced more than one million people to flee, according to Lebanese authorities.