Lebanon, the Unifil mission and the future of the south of the country at the center of Joseph Aoun's visit to Italy

The future of Unifil, the UN mission in southern Lebanon with a mandate expiring at the end of the year, and the hypothesis of an alternative multinational device are at the center of the two-day visit to Italy by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, first in Rome then in Taranto for the Mediterranean Games. A dossier that is part of the joint efforts of Rome and Paris to find a solution that takes up the legacy of the mission, deployed since 1978, without leaving, write the Beirut media, "a security vacuum in the region".

On the sidelines of the audience with Pope Leo and Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Aoun acknowledged the Vatican's "deep concerns" about the difficulties in implementing the "framework agreement" between Lebanon and Israel, signed in Washington on June 26, while welcoming its signature. Aoun asked the Holy See to continue efforts so that Israel "immediately puts an end to its attacks" in southern Lebanon "and withdraws from the territories it occupies".

Only a complete withdrawal, said the Lebanese president, will allow reconstruction to begin and the return of displaced people. Aoun linked these measures to the extension of state authority throughout the territory and the exclusivity of the "war and peace decision", objectives set last summer by the Nawaf Salam government and which include the disarmament of Hezbollah, the armed party supported by Iran.

Aoun's visit, which also includes a meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and tomorrow, in Taranto, a greeting with the Head of State Sergio Mattarella on the sidelines of the Mediterranean Games, arrives in a context of growing tension in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli occupation army continues its operations around Nabatiye and the systematic devastation of civil infrastructure in the area close to the border.

The agreement on the "pilot zones", in which the Lebanese army should disarm Hezbollah, remains suspended after the last round of direct talks, without progress, at the beginning of August also in Rome: Beirut accuses the Jewish State of not accepting the Lebanese conditions, while Israel says it does not intend to withdraw until Hezbollah is disarmed. Against the backdrop of the autumn elections in Israel, new direct talks between Beirut and Israel are expected in Rome in a couple of weeks. According to the Lebanese media, among the topics of Aoun's talks with the Italian leaders there is also a possible role for Rome in the commission verifying compliance with the agreement by Hezbollah and Israel.