Hi!I'm an italian boy!
I like your blog; I visited it today for the first time and I believe it's very interesting
I would like answering you something about....international troops based in south of Lebanon?What you think about them, and about italian presence?And what does Syrian public opinion think about it?
Visited my blog and! I will be pleased to have an answer from you!!
Thank you in advance!
Patrick

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for your comment...and welcome to the Syria News Wire!

I can't speak for all Syrians, but this is what I think. Italy doesn't have a claim on Syria or Lebanon, in the way that France, Britain and the US do.

And we know that Prodi is a friend of Syria. (See this).

My feeling about the peacekeepers in general is that Lebanon was calling for it since the Israeli attacks began. Lebanon wants protection from its violent Southern neighbour.

Even Syria has welcomed Italian help to secure its border with Lebanon.

It seems the peacekeepers have received a warm welcome so far, and I think that will continue.

What is the view from Italy - how do Italians feel about sending their army into Lebanon?

Thanks Patrick...I look forward to hearing from you.

Hi Sasa
Thank you for your quick answer!
Now I'm going to answer to your question....
First af all I want to specify that, even if I agree with you that Mr Prodi is a friend of Syria, I don't believe the previous government (lead by Mr Berlusconi) was an enemy of your country!!Moreover I think Berlusconi's government policy towars Syria wasn't so aggressive such as Bush's or neo-con's, wasn't it?Therefore, in my opinion, even the previous administration was a great friend of Syria, but obviously it had to be equidistant in the analisys of Middle Eastern crisys and so, according to its think, it often criticizes Syrian government which not always had a limpid foreign policy, hadn' it?
Anyway, turning back to your question:
Italian parliament approved the mission in the south of Lebanon, altought some political parties would the international coalition had the role to disarm Hezbollah militias. The most of them infact (not only the right, but even a not irrilevant part of the left) see Hexbollah such as a terroristic movement that started this tragic war: very few politicians (almost all belonging to communist parties:) defend Hezbollah actions and maybe still less defend its policy; think: when Oliviero Diliberto, leader of one of the italian communist parties, visited Hezbollah, some years ago, he was accused of supporting a terroristic movement and even few days ago when our today's foreign secretary Massimo D'Alema visited Beirut, walking togheter with a Hezbollah deputy, he received many accuses.
Nevertheless the mission is supported by a huge part of italian public opinion.
I'm one of the great supporter of this mission, even though I would like to see a calendar for the complete disarm of Hezbollah organization: I well know the group is seen among arabs like a resistance movement, but I don't think so....
Anyway, good luck, italian soldiers!We support you!!
And thank you Sasa, I am going to visit your blog sometime, because I'm very interested in what happened in Midlle East!!
When you want visit my blog, you are always welcome!
Bye Bye Patrick

Hi Patrick,

Thank you for your insight into the Italian view of the peacekeeping force. I will try to put some of it into a post.

I understand why you might want Hizbollah to disarm. But you have to understand that lebanon does not have an army. A Southern General served tea to invading israeli soldiers. And soldiers were ordered by the government not to attack the Israelis even as they killed thousands of Lebanese.

Hizbollah is the only army of Lebanon. And it is a neighbour of one of the world's strongest military forces (Israel) - one which has shown no respect for its neighbours, or even people living within the borders it controls.

There are different opinions about whether it was right to kidnap two Israeli soldiers. But I have to ask, when not just two, but thousands of Lebanese CIVILIANS were arrested over the past 20 years, did Hizbollah respond with all out war on Israel?

Thanks again Patrick, and I will be visiting your blog!

Sasa.