Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melon is scheduled to visit Lebanon on October 18 to reiterate support for UNIFIL.

By Angelo Amante and Giuseppe Fonte ROME (Reuters) -Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday she plans to visit Lebanon and called for security guarantees for her country's troops there after U.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni would be the first head of state or government to visit Lebanon since escalations between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in September.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned on Tuesday against withdrawing UN peacekeepers from Lebanon at Israel’s unilateral request, as she announced she would visit Lebanon on Friday.

In a speech to the Italian Senate, Meloni decried Israel’s recent attacks on the international forces in Lebanon. Italy is Europe’s largest contributor of troops to those forces, and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said they will remain in the region despite attacks on peacekeepers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he told French President Emmanuel Macron that he would not agree to a ceasefire deal that failed to stop Hezbollah from rearming and regrouping.

To achieve the goal of returning the 60,000 Israeli residents to the North, Hezbollah can no longer be perched on Israel’s border, Netanyahu told Macron.