Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister, Nagib Mikati, welcomed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Grand Serail on Wednesday, following her arrival in Beirut.
Giorgia Meloni and Nagib Mikati © Grand Serail
Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister, Nagib Mikati, welcomed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Grand Serail on Wednesday, following her arrival in Beirut.
The Italian premier's agenda includes inspecting the Italian contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), stationed at the border between Lebanon and northern Israel, where exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have escalated in recent days.
Italian State Secretary Giovanbattista Fazzolari and Italy's Ambassador to Lebanon, Nicoletta Bombardieri, attended the meeting from the Italian side, along with Lebanon's outgoing Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib.
The discussions also focused on the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and illegal migrants in the Mediterranean region, as well as the necessity of unblocking the Lebanese presidential election after nearly a year and a half of vacancy since the end of Michel Aoun's term in late October 2022.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Hezbollah was seeking to rearm and that Israel would exercise its right to self-defence under last year's ceasefire accord if Lebanon failed to disarm the militant group.
Major Saudi Arabian firms are planning billion-dollar investments in Syria as part of the kingdom's business-forward approach to the country's recovery, but U.S. sanctions and a fractured Syrian state apparatus pose formidable obstacles.
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, more than 550,000 Syrian refugees have returned from Turkey to Syria, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Saturday.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.