Italy's Meloni plans Lebanon visit, seeks security guarantees for troops

By Angelo Amante and Giuseppe Fonte

ROME (Reuters) -Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday she plans to visit Lebanon and called for security guarantees for her country's troops there after U.N. peacekeepers came under fire during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Italy has over 1,000 troops deployed in the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). It also has troops in a separate mission known as MIBIL which trains local armed forces in Lebanon.

The U.N. Security Council expressed concern on Monday after several U.N. peacekeeping positions came under fire in southern Lebanon and urged all parties - without naming them - to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and premises.

Since the start of Israeli ground operation in Lebanon on Oct. 1, UNIFIL positions have been affected 20 times, including by direct fire and an incident on Sunday when two Israeli tanks burst through the gates of a UNIFIL base, the U.N. said.

"We believe that the attitude of the Israeli forces is completely unjustified," Meloni told the Italian Senate, describing it as a "blatant violation" a U.N. resolution on ending hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.

"It is already planned for me to go to Lebanon, as (Foreign) Minister (Antonio) Tajani is preparing to go to Israel and Palestine next week," she told lawmakers, without providing details on the timing of her trip.

In an address to lawmakers before a meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels later this week, she said Israel's actions were not acceptable and that she had expressed this position to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has denied Israeli troops deliberately targeted UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon and wants the peacekeepers withdrawn from combat zones.

Italy has protested to Israel and joined allies in condemning the attacks on the peacekeepers.

Meloni said Hezbollah had also violated the U.N. resolution and sought "to militarise the area under UNIFIL's jurisdiction," adding that Italy wanted to strengthen the capabilities of UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces.

She also said Rome had not forgotten the attack by Hamas militants on Israeli communities on Oct. 7 last year that sparked the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and that Italy's thoughts were with the more than 100 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Giuseppe Fonte, Editing by Timothy Heritage)