Italy acknowledges Hezbollah rockets hit UN base in Lebanon

The Italian Defense Ministry has acknowledged that rockets fired by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah were responsible for hitting a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) base in the Lebanese town of Chamaa last week, Barron’s reported on Tuesday.

The admission constitutes a reversal in its position as the Italian government initially blamed the Israel Defense Forces for the unexploded artillery shell that hit the UN base.

"Today there was a new attack. Three rockets fell on Chamaa. It is intolerable," Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said while speaking from Brussels, Belgium at the time of the incident.

Furthermore, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani protested the attack during a conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, reportedly emphasizing "the unacceptability" of the attack, while Sa’ar "guaranteed an immediate investigation" of the incident. 

The Israeli military investigation concluded that Hezbollah, not Israel, was responsible for the rocket attack on the UNIFIL base and noted that no UN personnel were injured in the attack.

The IDF determined that Hezbollah fired the rocket from the Deir Aames area during a broader rocket assault on Israel. The rocket likely misfired, as it was likely launched at a target inside Israel. UNIFIL, which agreed with Israel's assessment, stated that the rocket was 'most likely fired by non-state actors within Lebanon,' a reference to Hezbollah, the most powerful non-state actor in Lebanon, particularly in the southern region where the attack occurred.

Following the result of the Israeli military investigation, the Italian Ministry of Defense argued that its defense minister, Crosetto, “did not have the right information” when he spoke at the time of the attack. 

“Hezbollah was responsible for the attack,” the source stated. 

Hezbollah, which is financed, equipped and trained by Iran, has effectively created a "state within a state" in Lebanon, with a military that is more powerful than the official Lebanese Armed Forces. 

Like its ally Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah has strategically embedded its operations within civilian areas, which constitutes a violation of international law.

During its ground operations in southern Lebanon, the IDF uncovered large amounts of Russian-manufactured weapons hidden by Hezbollah operatives in civilian homes, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

UNIFIL’s official mission in southern Lebanon is to preserve the peace and prevent Hezbollah from rearming following the Second Lebanon War in 2006. However, Israeli and international pundits have argued that the UN agency is largely ineffective and has failed to prevent the massive rearming of Hezbollah by the Iranian regime.

In October, a former UNIFIL soldier using the alias Michael admitted that UNIFIL is entirely under Hezbollah's control.

"We were totally subject to Hezbollah. We clearly had limited freedom of movement. For example, we never operated after dark for fear of Hezbollah. So they had free time in the evening and night hours,” Michael said. 

"We reported daily violations of resolution 1701 to our superiors, including in particular restrictions on our freedom of movement, and we were instructed to report all violations regardless of number. But nothing ever happened.”