Foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday he is afraid the war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza "may widen" and hopes premier Giorgia Meloni visit to Lebanon this week may help avert this scenario.
''I fear that the conflict may widen - we need to do everything it takes to ensure this does not happen," Tajani told the Porta a Porta talkshow.
"Prime minister Giorgia Meloni's mission to Lebanon (on Wednesday through Thursday) is a step in this direction, as is the work we are doing with the Lebanese armed forces led by General Aoun," Tajani said.
In a statement on Thursday, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, urged a ceasefire "right now" and it said it is "very concerned over the surge of violence" occurring at disputed frontier.
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been trading fire at the UN-drawn Blue Line since October in the worst cross-border violence since they fought a month-long war in 2006.
"The aim is to reduce Hezbollah's influence and calm the waters, as well as to train the Lebanese armed forces," said Tajani.
Hamas' 7 horrific 7 October cross-border rampage that killed some 1,200 people and triggered the devastating Gaza war "was not a military attack, but a 'Jew-hunt', to provoke a reaction," Tajani stated.
In talks in Beirut with her Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikat on Wednesday, Meloni underlined Italy's wish to keep helping maintain stability in Lebanon, its closeness to the country and the need to avoid "every risk of escalation at the border with Israel," her office stated.
Meloni on Thursday visited Italian peacekeepers at the Millevoi military base in Shama. Italy has 1,046 troops deployed to southern Lebanon with UNIFIL and as well as 67 soldiers serving with the MIBIL bilateral training mission.
