The G7 defense ministers meet on Saturday in Naples against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East, where the Israeli army continues its operations against Lebanese Hezbollah but also its strikes in Gaza despite the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinouar .
Italy, which holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven most developed countries, included on the agenda of this one-day meeting the crisis in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and the security situation in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Russia’s violent aggression in Ukraine and the critical situation in the Middle East, combined with the deep instability in sub-Saharan Africa and the growing tensions in the Info-Pacific region reflect a degraded security framework,” noted the minister Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, at the opening of the meeting.
Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the risk of a wider regional war, are at the heart of the group’s discussions (France, Canada, United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom) .
The ministers were welcomed under the gold of the Royal Palace of Naples, a city in southern Italy where a NATO base is located, by the Italian Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, at the initiative of this first G7 Defense never organized in a context that he deemed “historic” with the war on several fronts in the Middle East, the conflict in Ukraine or the tensions between China and Taiwan.
Also present are the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, and the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
The latter estimated during a press briefing that the death of Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinouar, mastermind of the unprecedented attack launched on October 7, 2023 in Israel by the Palestinian Islamist movement, opened “a new perspective” with a view to a ceasefire.
“This should be an opportunity under which an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages could be reached. And which would open the door to more humanitarian aid,” he said.
Several world leaders have expressed hope that the death of Yahya Sinouar opens the way to a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. American President Joe Biden saw this as an opportunity for “a path to peace” in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, for his part, warned that the death of the Hamas leader, one of the Israeli government’s objectives since October 7, “does not mean the end of the war in Gaza, but the beginning of the end.”
Israeli strikes on Gaza continue, as do military operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023.
After nearly a year of border firefights with Hezbollah and after weakening Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army moved the front of the war to Lebanon in mid-September.
– Finul under fire –
The discussions in Naples will focus in particular on the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), where Israeli strikes have injured peacekeepers in actions that Italy and other countries have described as violations of international law.
UNIFIL, made up of around 9,500 soldiers from more than 50 countries, accused the Israeli army of “deliberately” firing on its positions.
Josep Borrell suggested on Saturday strengthening the mandate of UNIFIL, without specifying the contours of such a reform which requires, he recalled, “a decision by the United Nations Security Council”.
“They cannot act autonomously, it is obviously a limited role,” he noted.
The Israeli army says it was not targeting the peacekeepers but the incidents sparked a wave of international criticism. With a thousand soldiers, Italy is the second contributing country to UNIFIL.
The G7 defense ministers are due to focus on Ukraine this afternoon, at a time when kyiv, soon facing its third winter of war, is struggling in the face of the Russian invasion.
The G7 approved a $50 billion loan program to kyiv in June, drawing on profits from interest on frozen Russian assets.
But Western aid is showing signs of weakness almost everywhere and the United States, in the event of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election in November, could radically review its policy.
Saturday’s summit will end with a press conference by Guido Crosetto, scheduled for 4 p.m. local time (2 p.m. GMT).
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