Crosetto says mulling validity of UNIFIL for 6 mts with UN

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 1 - Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Tuesday he has been considering the validity of the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission in Lebanon with the United Nations for the last six months.
    Italy has over 1,000 troops in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which numbers nearly 10,500 soldiers in all.
    Approximately 200 other Italians are in Beirut as part of the Italian Bilateral Military Mission in Lebanon (MIBIL).
    "The current validity of the UNIFIL mission is a discussion I have been having for more than six months with the UN and which I therefore leave to my daily discussions with the United Nations"., said Crosetto in a video link to the Made in Italy Summit in Milan, organized digitally by Il Sole 24 Ore business daily.
    Crosetto said on Sunday that he is being constantly briefed on the evolution of the situation in Lebanon where the Italian military is not under immediate threat, although the situation is "extremely delicate".
    Israel started a limited ground invasion of Lebanon Monday night.
    On Tuesday it ordered the evacuation of more than 20 areas of south Lebanon and said there had so far not been any direct clashes with Hezbollan, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by a US-supplied Israeli bunker bomb last week. (ANSA).