Italy says ‘shooting’ at UN Lebanon peacekeepers ‘intolerable’

Italy’s defense minister on Thursday slammed the “shooting” at the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon as “intolerable,” after the force said it had been hit by Israeli tank fire.

The minister, Guido Crosetto said he “protested” to Israel’s defense minister and summoned the Israeli ambassador over the incident.

“The shooting at the UNIFIL headquarters” and other incidents involving “small arms fire” are “intolerable, they must be carefully and decisively avoided,” Crosetto said in a statement.

“For these reasons, I protested to my Israeli counterpart and the Israeli ambassador to Italy,” he said.

Italy has more than 1,000 troops in the 10,000 strong UNIFIL force in south Lebanon that said Israeli tank fire on its headquarters wounded two members.

Crosetto said he told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “that what is happening… starting from the shooting at the UNIFIL headquarters is, for me and for the Italian government, unacceptable.”

“Any possible error that could put the soldiers, both Italian and UNIFIL, at risk must be avoided,” he said.

UNIFIL has called for a ceasefire since an escalation between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on September 23, after a year of cross-border fire.

Crosetto said there had been other incidents, including the deliberate disabling of perimeter-monitoring cameras and the shooting at a lighting and a relay station, all of which were “in clear contrast to international law.”

“This morning I sent a formal communication to the United Nations to reiterate the unacceptability of what is happening in South Lebanon,” he said.

Thursday’s incident is the most serious reported by UNIFIL since it said last week it had rejected Israeli demands to “relocate” from some positions.

UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack.

It was bolstered in Security Council Resolution 1701 after Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006, and its peacekeepers are tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides.