Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday gave her support to the new Lebanese President, Joseph Aoun, whom Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani is due to meet in Beirut in the afternoon after a visit to Damascus in Syria.
“I am convinced that President Aoun will be a trustworthy and authoritative leader for Lebanon, a friendly nation of Italy to which we are linked by historical and deep ties,” Meloni said in a statement.
The head of Italian diplomacy, for his part, arrived in the Lebanese capital on Friday after a visit to Syria during which he met the new Syrian leader, Ahmad al-Chareh. Mr. Tajani had previously met with his Syrian counterpart, Assaad al-Chaibani.
“The election of President Aoun represents a historic moment for Lebanon and an important signal for the entire region,” said Mr. Tajani, quoted in a press release from his ministry. “We are working to ensure that the ceasefire with Israel represents the first step towards lasting peace,” he added.
In addition to President Aoun, Mr. Tajani is due to meet with his counterpart, Bou Habib, and the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri.
-Italy is the main European contributor to the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, with 1,068 soldiers (according to the UN), ahead of Spain (676), France (673) and Ireland (370).
More than 10,000 peacekeepers in total are stationed in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL has been deployed since 1978 to act as a buffer with Israel. They are responsible in particular for monitoring the Blue Line, the demarcation set by the UN between the two countries.
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