Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, typically one of Israel’s most vocal supporters among Western European leaders, has spoken to PM Benjamin Netanyahu by phone to denounce the “unacceptable” Israeli attacks, her government says.
According to Reuters, Italy has more than a thousand troops in the 10,000-strong Unifil force, making it one of the biggest contributors of personnel. France and Spain, which each have nearly 700 soldiers in the force, have also condemned the Israeli attacks.
The presence of Unifil puts peacekeepers from 50 separate countries in harm’s way, in a force initially set up in southern Lebanon in 1978.
The area has seen decades of conflict, with Israel invading in 1982, occupying southern Lebanon until 2000 and again fighting a major five-week war against Hezbollah in 2006, which ended with a ceasefire monitored by Unifil.
