There are 1,200 Italian soldiers on the line of fire. “Deep concern” for the safety of the national contingent participating in the mission UNIFIL to guard the 120 km of the Blue Line – the ‘buffer’ line between Lebanon And Israel – was expressed by the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosettowho reiterated the request to theUN to change the rules of engagement and redefine the mission strategy. “Time is up,” he warns. The Foreign Minister is on the same page, Antonio Tajani. “We are monitoring the situation of Italians in the area, in contact with Italian ambassadors and the Crisis Unit,” he said. The Farnesina Crisis Unit has updated plans for possible evacuations. Crosetto and Tajani have evaluated the options available for the protection of Italians present in the region.
The new alarm from the minister – after months of official requests to United Nationsalso by letter – comes after the Israeli reaction in Lebanon following the rocket that killed 12 boys in the Druze-Israeli town of Majdal ShamsIn the Golanattributed by Tel Aviv to Hezbollah. The latter will now predictably respond in turn. The situation in the area, where the Italian military has been operating for 46 years, already tense after October 7, has thus become incandescent and Crosetto is in constant contact with the Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Joseph Cavo Dragonethe joint operational commander, general Francis Son and the director of AISE, General John Caravelli to monitor what is happening. The Italian contingent (the largest after the Indonesian one), the minister has repeatedly stressed, is not a direct target but the 10 thousand UNIFIL soldiers could accidentally find themselves involved in the firefights between the two sides, which have become increasingly frequent.
Request for Rules of Engagement Update
Hence the pressure to change the rules, born in other times. Because the current escalation has changed the scenario of operations and, therefore, the participation of the Blue Helmets must be rethought, for whom an evacuation plan has also been prepared in case the situation should worsen. “The Italian contingent will continue to operate with dedication”, Crosetto assured, but “we are facing a new emergency that does not allow us to waste time. The entire international community must apply Security Council Resolution 1701. It is the only way to prevent a devastating war also in Lebanon. The resolution provides for a strip between the Blue Line and the river Litanieswithout weapons other than those of UNIFIL and the Lebanese armed forces. In these years this has not been the case. Now we can no longer pretend nothing is happening”.
Need to comply with Resolution 1701
The two parties in conflict, Israel and Hezbollah, must respect the resolution. But recent events do not bode well. Agreements provide that Israel warns the countries involved in UNIFIL in the event of attacks on Lebanese territory. There is a real risk that a new war front will open after Gaza and the Italian soldiers – like those of the other countries participating in UNIFIL – must be protected at all costs, is the meaning of Crosetto’s appeal, because they are there with another mandate and other objectives. If an adequate security framework is lacking, the presence of the UN contingent in Lebanon could be called into question after almost half a century.