Lebanon: Italy eyes role in strengthening state's authority should fragile ceasefire hold

(Adnkronos) - Italy could play a role Lebanon if the current shaky truce holds, and it is working on a mission aimed at strengthening the state's authority, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said Tuesday, noting that the Italian military is already training the Lebanese armed forces. 

"President Joseph Aoun is a guarantor. His army must be empowered to disarm (Iran-backed Shia militant group) Hezbollah and take control of the entire national territory," Tajani stated. 

“We are already training the Lebanese military," Tajani continued, referring to the MIBIL bilateral mission in Lebanon and the Italy-led MTC4L (Military Technical Committee for Lebanon). 

"We can step up that effort, and I believe there would be agreement on this from everyone—Israelis, Lebanese, and Americans,” he said. 

The multi-confessional country's army needs to contain Christian, Sunni and Shia Muslims, Tajani underlined. 

A fragile United States-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has largedly held since Sunday and a new round of US-mediated negotiations between Israel and Lebanon was set to begin in Washington on Wednesday with talks expected to last until Thursday.  

On Tuesday, Israeli troops opened fire near the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing two people and wounding two others, following two days of relative calm in the country, according to the Lebanese state news agency (NNA). 

Conflict between Israel and Hezbollah reignited in early March in a spillover from the US-Israeli war on Iran which began in late February and ended last week with an interim peace deal between the US and Iran that includes Lebanon. 

Israel still occupies a 'buffer zone' in southern Lebanon amounting to around 6 percent of national territory and Israel's president Benjamin Netanyahu insisted this week that the Israeli military will remain in the "security zone" in Lebanon's south "for as long as is required" and will "have full freedom of action" in Lebanon. 

Iran has made a halt to Israel's attacks on southern Lebanon a necessary condition for the next phase of negotiations aimed at securing a lasting peace agreeement.