Italy urges Hezbollah, Israel to avoid war

ATHENS

Italy on Monday called for efforts to avoid a full-blown war between Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel amid rising tensions along the border between the two sides.

"Breaking the spiral of violence is possible," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on X, adding that he had spoken over the phone with his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz and Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib.

Emphasizing that Italy is committed to peace and stability and contributing to that goal with over 1,000 troops deployed in the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), he called on the parties to respect UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended a previous war in 2006.

The resolution calls for the full cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon to be replaced by Lebanese and UNIFIL forces deploying to southern Lebanon, and the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah.

Fears have grown about a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah amid an exchange of cross-border attacks between the two sides. The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which has killed more than 39,300 people since last October, following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas