Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said
Tuesday he has been considering the validity of the UNIFIL
peacekeeping mission in Lebanon with the United Nations for the
last six months.
Italy has over 1,000 troops in the United Nations Interim Force
in Lebanon, which numbers nearly 10,500 soldiers in all.
Approximately 200 other Italians are in Beirut as part of the
Italian Bilateral Military Mission in Lebanon (MIBIL).
"The current validity of the UNIFIL mission is a discussion I
have been having for more than six months with the UN and which
I therefore leave to my daily discussions with the United
Nations"., said Crosetto in a video link to the Made in Italy
Summit in Milan, organized digitally by Il Sole 24 Ore business
daily.
Crosetto said on Sunday that he is being constantly briefed on
the evolution of the situation in Lebanon where the Italian
military is not under immediate threat, although the situation
is "extremely delicate".
Israel started a limited ground invasion of Lebanon Monday
night.
On Tuesday it ordered the evacuation of more than 20 areas of
south Lebanon and said there had so far not been any direct
clashes with Hezbollan, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed
by a US-supplied Israeli bunker bomb last week.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
