ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will host a call of Group of Seven (G7) leaders later on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, her office said.
“Italy will continue to strive for a diplomatic solution, including in its capacity as chair of the G7. I have convened a leaders’ level meeting for this afternoon,” Meloni was quoted as telling her cabinet.
Italy holds the rotating presidency of the G7 – the club of major Western democracies, which comprises the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
Meloni told her ministers that there was “deep concern” about latest developments, including Iran’s missile attack on Israel on Tuesday and the instability in Lebanon, her office said.
“The goal is the stabilisation of the Israeli-Lebanese border through the full implementation of Resolution 1701,” she was quoted as saying, referring to the U.N. resolution which halted the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war in south Lebanon.
“In this framework, Italy has called on the U.N. Security Council to consider strengthening the mandate of the UNIFIL mission in order to ensure the security of the Israel-Lebanon border,” she said.
Italy is a major contributor to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Italian media reported on Wednesday that her government was considering pulling its forces out of the area given the recent border violence.
Speaking at a news conference after a cabinet meeting in Rome, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani firmly denied the government would withdraw troops from the U.N. mission.
“We have assessed all the possibilities … There is no decision to withdraw the Italian contingent from UNIFIL,” he told reporters.
“Regarding the possibilities of evacuation, it’s clear that when there are wars going on it would be foolish not to have a plan ready, but this also concerns civilians.”
(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Giuseppe Fonte; editing by Crispian Balmer, Keith Weir and Mark Heinrich)