Italy Urges Israel to Halt Lebanon Escalation as Strikes Kill 3

(MENAFN) Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday intensified diplomatic pressure on Israel to stand down militarily in Lebanon, as fresh airstrikes killed three people and wounded eight others — just 24 hours after both nations agreed to reinforce a fragile ceasefire.

In a phone call with his Lebanese counterpart Youssef Raggi, Tajani threw his weight behind a durable ceasefire and pledged Italy's readiness to help bolster Lebanon's state institutions and national armed forces.

"To defend the ceasefire, Hezbollah must absolutely cease any military action against Israel and accept the decisions of the legitimate government. We are convinced that Israel too must renounce military escalation. The path of diplomacy is the only way to achieve peace," Tajani wrote on X.

Thursday's deadly strikes — targeting sites in eastern and southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese media reports — came one day after Beirut and Jerusalem agreed to renew their ceasefire framework and launch so-called "pilot zones," granting the Lebanese army exclusive territorial authority while barring all non-state armed actors.

The renewed agreement emerged from a joint statement following a fourth round of US-mediated negotiations held at the State Department on Wednesday.

The Washington-brokered talks came against a grim backdrop: nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, amid near-daily Israeli strikes that continued even after a ceasefire took effect on April 17 — later extended through early July.

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