It doesn't take much in the Middle East for the regional conflict to take on an even more frightening dimension. The fears were shared at the Med9 summit in Paphos, where Giorgia Meloni joined forces with Emmanuel Macron and Pedro Sanchez to condemn the Israeli army's attacks on Unifil troops in Lebanon. "It is unacceptable and must never happen again," was the warning launched in unison by the leaders of Italy, France and Spain, and written in black and white in a joint statement.
To put further pressure on Israel, top-level phone calls with Benjamin Netanyahu are not excluded in the next few hours. Meanwhile, another warning comes from the French president and the Spanish prime minister: "We must stop selling weapons to Israel, the only lever to end conflicts." Their voices are joined by that of the incumbent American president, Joe Biden: "Israel must no longer strike UN forces in Lebanon," he said laconically.
So far, however, the indignation and warnings from the UN and Italy have been of no avail: today Israel attacked "for the second time in 48 hours" UNIFIL positions in southern Lebanon, opening fire on an observation post at the headquarters in Naqura and wounding two more UN peacekeepers, this time Sri Lankans, one of whom is in serious condition.
In Labbouneh, instead, closer to the Blue Line on the border between the two countries, a section of the demarcation wall of the 1-31 base collapsed, manned by Italian soldiers, acting under the command of the Sassari Brigade, and already hit by gunfire from IDF tanks the day before. According to the reconstruction provided by UNIFIL, "several T-walls of our 1-31 position fell when an IDF bulldozer hit the perimeter and the Israeli army tanks moved close to the UN position."
"Our peacekeepers remained in place," the mission added in a statement, announcing that it had also sent "a rapid reaction force from UNIFIL to assist and reinforce the position."
It was not a "further attack" on Italian bases, the Ministry of Defense clarified, explaining that on that position "work is underway to restore the structures" damaged "in recent days" and that the operations "were planned and are being carried out" in "coordination between the Italian units of Unifil, the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defense Forces". Israel assures that it wants to shed light on the attacks on the UN force and that it has started "an in-depth investigation at the highest level".
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)