Italy's foreign minister Antonio Tajani is "closely monitoring" the situation in Lebanon and the government has made an "urgent request" to avoid more military clashes after a rocket strike at the weekend killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
"The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, is closely monitoring the evolution of the crisis in Lebanon in coordination with the Minister of Defence, Guido Crosetto," said a foreign ministry statement on Monday.
"The Italian government has reiterated to both the Israeli and Lebanese governments its urgent request to do everything in their power to avoid a further escalation of military clashes in the region," the statement continued.
"Such an escalation could spiral out of control and cause more damage and painful losses in an area already afflicted by conflict that should instead be completely defused," the statement underlined.
Tajani has begun telephone consultations with Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, and his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib, the statement noted.
Tajani and Crosetto and their ministry chiefs have evaluated the options available for the protection of Italian citizens in the region and the foreign ministry is stepping up operational monitoring of Italians in Lebanon and Israel, according to the statement.
The foreign ministry "continues to advise all Italian citizens who are able to do so to leave the region," said the statement.
Italy's army command "with reference to the military presence in UNIFIL (the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon), and the foreign ministry's crisis unit has updated plans for possible evacuations, said the statement.
Bou Habib urged an “international investigation or a meeting of the tripartite committee held through UNIFIL to know the truth” about who was responsible for Saturday's attack on the Druz town of Majdal Shams.
In a statement on X, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib urged an “international investigation or a meeting of the tripartite committee held through UNIFIL to know the truth” about who was responsible for the attack.
The tripartite committee refers to military officials from Lebanon and Israel together with UNIFIL.
Israel's army and United States intelligence claim that Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired the deadly rocket on Majdal Shams, but Hezbollah denies responsibility for the strike.
