Italian Defense Minister claims that Italy guarantees the safety of Hezbollah

After the eight rockets that were fired by Hezbollah hitting an Italian UNIFIL base, the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani said:

“Judging by the type of rockets, we can confirm that it was Hezbollah that hit the Unifil base”, declared the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani. “Hezbollah has no right to touch the Italian troops, who have also guaranteed the safety of Hezbollah and it is therefore inadmissible and unacceptable that they shoot at the Italian contingent – added the minister – If it was a mistake, they should learn to use weapons better.”

A statement that raises enormous doubts and further questions regarding UNIFIL in a time when the whole UN mission in Lebanon is currently under heavy criticism for its inability to implement the 1701 resolution, as recalled on October 15^th by the Strategic Advisor to the US Government, Edward Luttwak, who tweeted:

“I am sorry that the Prime Minister (Italian) defends UNIFIL, which was supposed to keep Hezbollah away from the Israeli border and never did anything while successive commanders were promoted. The Israelis found many assault bunkers a few meters from the UNIFIL positions”.

Minister Tajani’s statement is indeed problematic since, in one go, he said:

• The Italian UNIFIL troops guaranteed the safety of Hezbollah.
• Hezbollah should learn to use its weapons better.

Wasn’t the UNIFIL mission supposed to disarm and keep away Hezbollah from firing at Israel? What does “…learn to use their weapons better” mean? Use them against who?

It is also worth recalling that, in April 2024, during the TV show “Stasera Italia” on Rete 4 channel, following Iran’s first missile attack against Israel, Tajani had stated:

“The Iranians have assured us that our Italian soldiers in the area will be respected…The Italian contingent in Lebanon is under the aegis of the UN, it is in a condition to be protected, I don’t think there are any dangers either for the Italian soldiers or for the Italian citizens in Israel and Iran”. As for the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the minister explained how he was assured that “only ships that bring weapons to Israel would be attacked”. (Agi, Apr 14,2024).

Minister Tajani’s statement shows once more that it is definitely time to put an end to the current UNIFIL mission.