Rome calls on Israel to clarify “unacceptable” targeting of Italian UNIFIL convoy in Lebanon.
Italy has summoned the Israeli ambassador in Rome to demand an explanation after shots were fired at an Italian convoy of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani announced the move after briefing parliament on the incident, stating: “Italian soldiers in Lebanon are not to be touched.”
What happened
On Wednesday morning a logistics convoy of the Italian contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), travelling from Shama towards Beirut, was targeted by warning shots fired by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) about two kilometres from its departure base.
The UNIFIL convoy halted immediately and returned to base, the Italian defence ministry said in a statement, reporting minor damage to vehicles but no injuries to personnel.
Response from Rome
In a statement, Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “firm condemnation” of the incident, stating: “Italian soldiers are present in Lebanon under a mandate from the United Nations Security Council and are acting in the interest of maintaining peace.”
She added that it was “completely unacceptable” that personnel operating under the UN flag should be put at risk by such “irresponsible actions, which are in clear violation of United Nations Resolution 1701.”
Defence minister Guido Crosetto also expressed his “strongest and most outraged protest,” calling on the UN “to intervene with the Israeli authorities as a matter of urgency to clarify the incident, to adopt all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the Italian contingent and all UNIFIL personnel, and to firmly reiterate respect for the mandate and the protection due to the UN peacekeepers.”
Spain
The incident involving Italy came a day after a separate confrontation involving a Spanish peacekeeper. Israeli forces briefly detained a UNIFIL peacekeeper after blocking a logistics convoy in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.
Spain’s defence minister Margarita Robles said the Spanish soldier, who was part of a contingent delivering supplies, was held for about an hour before being released following high-level intervention. Spain also summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires to protest the “unjustified detention.
UNIFIL said the peacekeeper was freed following “direct and immediate contacts” by the mission’s head and liaison branch, and condemned the detention as “a blatant violation of international law,” stating that interference with peacekeeping operations also breaches UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
Italy and UNIFIL
Italy currently has 754 troops in UNIFIL, the second-largest national contingent after Indonesia’s 755.
The incidents come against a backdrop of escalating Israeli military activity in Lebanon, which Israel maintains is not covered by the two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and Iran earlier this week.
