Giorgia Meloni visits Beirut amid tensions with Israel – Technologist

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has decided to take on the Lebanese issue. On Friday, October 18, she will be the first foreign leader to visit Beirut since the September 30 incursion of Israeli forces into southern Lebanon and the intensification of fighting with Hezbollah. Preceding a planned visit on Monday to Tel Aviv and Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, her trip comes in particular against the backdrop of the current high tensions surrounding the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The Italian soldiers, who form one of the main contingents of the UN mission with some 1,200 personnel, have not been spared from the Israeli army’s aggression and intimidation, which operates close to the peacekeepers’ bases. An Italian position was even taken over by Israeli soldiers who fired into the compound, which had previously been damaged by tanks. On October 11, in an interview with the daily Corriere della Sera, Tajani claimed to have obtained assurances from Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, that the Italian military would not be put at risk.

In the senate on Tuesday, Meloni described the Israeli attitude as “unjustifiable,” 48 hours after a tense conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. As soon as the first clashes with the Israeli army broke out, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto summoned the Israeli ambassador to Rome on October 10.

‘Unanimous concern’

On Wednesday, Crosetto, together with French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu, chaired a videoconference bringing together the defense ministers of the 16 EU member states participating in UNIFIL. According to the Italian press release, they expressed their “unanimous concern,” condemning the Israeli attacks, pledging to maintain their presence in Lebanon and “to exert maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Israel to avoid further incidents.”

The relative rise in tensions between Italy and Israel, against a backdrop of European concern over the turn taken by the conflict in southern Lebanon, comes despite Meloni’s far-right-dominated executive arm not having missed a single opportunity since October 7, 2023 to demonstrate its support for Israel. Thought it has ritually referred to the “two-state” solution and unsuccessfully called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

By visiting Lebanon, Meloni, who holds the presidency of the G7 during 2024, is once again signaling her determination to continue positioning herself at the forefront of Europe’s response to Israel’s aggressive attitude. Her official trip will begin in Jordan, where she is due to meet King Abdullah II, in Aqaba, before heading to Beirut for talks with the prime minister, Najib Mikati, and then with the speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri.

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