Four Italian UNIFIL ‘blue helmets’ injured by projectiles hitting a base in Lebanon

Meloni shows his “deep indignation and concern” at the “unacceptable” attack and asks Israel and Hezbollah to “collaborate to identify” those responsible

Nov. 22 () –

At least four ‘blue helmets’ of Italian nationality from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were injured this Friday due to the impact of two projectiles inside a base of the mission in the Lebanese town of Shama, located in the south of the country.

A UNIFIL spokesperson has indicated in statements given to Europa Press that two 122 millimeter rockets have hit the mission’s headquarters in the western area, an incident immediately condemned by the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who has shown his “deep indignation and concern” at what happened.

“I would like to express my solidarity and my closeness, as well as that of the Government, to the wounded and their families,” Meloni said in a statement on his account on the social network X, where he also showed his “sincere gratitude” to the troops. of pacification “due to the activity carried out daily by the entire Italian contingent in Lebanon”.

“I reiterate once again that these attacks are unacceptable and I renew my call to the parties on the ground to ensure the safety of UNIFIL soldiers at all times and to collaborate to quickly identify those responsible,” he said.

For his part, the vice president of the Italian Government and Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, has pointed to the Shiite militia party Hezbollah as responsible, which for now has not commented on the incident, according to the Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’.

“Once again, what is happening is unacceptable and just as we told Israel to pay maximum attention, we tell Hezbollah with the same firmness that the Italian Army cannot be touched,” Tajani stressed. “If they plan to continue causing damage to the Italian bases, they have made a mistake,” he stressed.

The event takes place just three days after four Ghanaian UNIFIL ‘blue helmets’ were injured by a projectile possibly launched by Hezbollah that hit one of their bases. In addition, five other projectiles hit the aforementioned military base in Shama, an incident that left no victims.

In this way, it is the third time in about a week that this UNIFIL base, under the control of the Italian contingent, has received direct hits within the framework of hostilities in the region. Already on November 15, the facilities were hit by a 155-millimeter artillery projectile.

Israel unleashed a new invasion of Lebanon on October 1 after several weeks of intense bombing and attacks against the country, including the coordinated explosion of thousands of communication devices used by the Lebanese group, after more than eleven months of fighting with Hezbollah in the border area. Lebanon has reported more than 3,500 deaths since the outbreak of hostilities on October 8, 2023.

The resurgence in hostilities is part of the clashes that began more than a year ago, after Hezbollah attacked Israeli territory following the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and other Palestinian factions, which led to Israel to unleash a bloody offensive against the Gaza Strip, where more than 44,000 people have already died.