Middle East, Ukraine wars in focus as G7 defence ministers meet in Italy 

Defence ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries have backed Ukraine’s “irreversible” path to NATO membership and expressed concern over threats to United Nations peacekeepers targeted by Israel in Lebanon.

The one-day gathering in Naples on Saturday marks the G7’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defence.

Italy holds the G7’s rotating presidency for 2024 as the countries grapple with a range of international issues, including the Russian advance in Ukraine, China’s military activities around Taiwan and heightened tensions along the border of North and South Korea.

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told reporters the G7 could not solve global tensions alone but needed to stimulate action across the international community.

“The G7 must be like a gadfly that has the strength to sting the rest of the world,” he said at a news conference.

Along with Italy, the G7’s members are Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and United States. Representatives of NATO and the European Union and Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov also joined the talks.

In an earlier address, Crosetto warned of a “deteriorated security framework” across the world and said near-term forecasts for conflict resolution “cannot be positive”.

Tensions have been fuelled by confrontation between “two different, perhaps incompatible visions of the world”, he said.

In its final statement, the G7 backed Kyiv’s “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership”.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said he was worried by the North Korean contribution to the Russian war effort.

“[It] makes it clear that this conflict is spreading to other regions of the world in terms of its reach,” he said as the G7 also expressed concerns over China’s support of Russia and Beijing’s recent military drills around Taiwan.

The G7 meeting came two days after Israel announced it had killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, accused of being the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, which responded with a devastating assault on Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar’s death in Gaza signalled “the beginning of the end” of the war against Hamas while US President Joe Biden said it opened the door to “a path to peace”. But some analysts said Sinwar’s killing could lead to a deepening of Israel’s presence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The G7’s joint declaration called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli captives still held by Hamas, saying attacks and retaliation risked “fuelling uncontrollable escalation in the Middle East”.

The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, said the killing of Sinwar could raise the chances of an end to the conflict in Gaza, finally allowing more humanitarian support for the war-battered population.

He said the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, which was recently targeted by Israel in its conflict against Hezbollah, could be made more effective but it would be up to the UN Security Council to make decisions on its future.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he would like Israel to scale back some of its strikes on Beirut and added that Israel had told him it had no intention of targeting UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Italy is a major contributor to the peacekeeping force, which is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon. Israeli attacks have angered Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who visited Lebanon and Jordan on Friday.