(Adnkronos) – Italy has called on Lebanon to nominate a new president “as soon as possible” to end two years of political paralysis in the crisis-hit country and for the regular army to boost its control of national territory.
“We must aid the nomination as soon as possible of the new president of Lebanon who, under its constitution, must be a Maronite Christian,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani told Il Messaggero newspaper Monday.
“In the absence of the Head of State, Lebanon’s government cannot function at full capacity and will not be able to concretely address the issue of a truce with Israel,” Tajani continued.
The regular army must be strengthened to exercise effective control over Lebanon’s national territory, Tajani argued.
“These regular forces should occupy one of the two buffer zones between Israel and Hezbollah,” Tajani argued.
Hezbollah militants and Israel’s armed forces have been exchanging fire along the Israel-Lebanon border since the start of the war in Gaza last October. The conflict escalated last month and has uprooted over 1.2 million people in Lebanon, killed more than 2,500, and deepened the country’s already severe economic crisis.
