(Adnkronos) – Italy reaffirms its support and vows to bolster humanitarian aid for “brother country” Lebanon and to work for dialogue with Israel, which it accuses of “unacceptable” attacks against civilians, foreign minister Antonio Tajani stated after a visit to Beirut on Monday.
“Lebanon is a brother country that we hold in our hearts,” Tajani wrote on X.
“That is why I came to Beirut today to convey to President (Joseph) Aoun Italy’s solidarity following the unacceptable attacks by Israel against the civilian population,” Tajani continued.
Tajani referred to the almost six-week-old barrage of Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, which the Jewish state claims are in response to missile strikes by pro-Iranian militant group Hezbollah last month, but which have killed and injured thousands of people and forced a fifth of the population from their homes.
“We will strengthen our humanitarian commitment in Lebanon through the the foreign ministry’s aid initiatives,” Tajani underlined.
Tajani’s visit to Beirut was “intended to encourage dialogue with Israel based on a necessary and lasting ceasefire,” he went on.
“Within the framework of our military commitment and training for the Lebanese Armed Forces, I have offered President Aoun Italy’s assistance in countering illicit funding for terrorism and preventing further attacks by Hezbollah,” Tajani continued.
Italy’s government “will do everything possible to achieve peace and put an end to the suffering of the Lebanese people,” he wrote.
“We must avoid at all costs another escalation like the one in Gaza,” Tajani concluded. He referred to Israel’s devastating war against the Palestinian coastal enclave’s Islamist rulers Hamas, after its attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 in which almost 1,200 Israeli and foreign nationals were killed and 251 were taken hostage, according to Israel.
Over 72,000 Palestinians were killed in the two-year war according to Gaza’s health ministry, amid increased attacks by the Israeli army and settlers in the occupied West Bank. Over 750 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since a fragile US-brokered ceasefire came into effect in October. Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the truce violations.
