The UN's Unifil peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, which has come under attack from Israeli forces during their current offensive against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, will be "crucial" to uphold a future ceasefire and for a deal to end the war, according to Italy.
“The UN soldiers including our Italian soldiers are at risk in this current phase of highly tense clashes," foreign minister Tajani told the Messaggero Veneto newspaper Wednesday ahead of a conference he is attending in Padova.
"But Unifil's role will also be crucial to enforce a truce and to support political accords that will inevitably provide for a 'separation force' between Lebanon and Israel," Tajani went on.
Italy believes a "reinforced" Unifil should control the territory between the border between Lebanon and Israel and the Litani River, he said.
"A new buffer zone entrusted to Lebanese army alone could be created in the north," Tajani said.
Tajani denied that the United States had been "weak" towards Israel and had allowed it a free rein in the Middle East region.
“I don't think the US can't influence Israel's actions...The US is at the height of a presidential election campaign, that is reality," he said.
"But Israel knows very well that its relationship with America is a crucial and strategic one," he said.
US news outlet Axios reported Wednesday that two senior Biden administration advisors are set to arrive in Israel on Thursday for high-level talks including with premier Benjamin Netanyahu to try and seal a deal that could end the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon within a few weeks.
Israeli and US officials believe that following the assassination of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah and other blows in the past two months, the group is now prepared to cut ties with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza (whose leadership Israel has also decapitated), the Axios report said.
