The Group of Seven (G7) defence ministers are meeting in Italy against the backdrop of brewing tensions in the Middle East and the drawn-out conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The one-day gathering on Saturday marks the group’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defence, and is being held in Naples, the southern Italian city that is also home to a NATO base.
In his address, Italian Minister of Defence Guido Crosetto said the global security framework is growing increasingly precarious due to competing world visions.
“The brutal Russian aggressions in Ukraine and the critical situation in the Middle East, combined with the profound instability of sub-Saharan Africa. highlight a deteriorating security framework.
“This is in addition to the increasing tension in the Indo-Pacific region,” Crosetto said in his opening speech.
“The one-day summit will give ample space to discussion on the escalating Middle East conflict,” Crosetto said earlier in Brussels.
There is also concern over China’s military activities around Taiwan. And the heightened tensions along the border between North and South Korea.
Warning that forecasts for the near future “cannot be positive”, Crosetto said tensions were fuelled by “a common driver: the confrontation between two different, perhaps incompatible, visions of the world”.
On the one side are the countries and organisations that believe in a world order based on international law, said Crosetto.
Crosetto is a prominent member of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party.
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“On the other side, [there are] those who systematically disrespect democracy to pursue their objectives, including by a deliberate use of military force.”
The G7 meeting came two days after Israel announced it had killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. And the consequent Israeli genocide in Gaza that followed the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar’s death in the Palestinian territory signalled “the beginning of the end” of the war against Hamas.
US President Joe Biden said it opened the door to “a path to peace”.
However, analysts say Sinwar’s killing will only deepen Israel’s presence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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On Ukraine, the G7 ministers will contemplate Kyiv entering a third winter at war, battlefield losses in the east.
They would also discuss the prospect of reduced US military support, if Donald Trump is re-elected next month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is under mounting pressure from Western allies to forge a winning strategy against Russia.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy presented what he called a “victory plan” to the European Union and NATO.
Under discussion will also be reports that North Korea is deploying large troops to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine. This is based on South Korean intelligence.
NATO was not yet able to confirm that intelligence, its Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Friday. (Al Jazeera)
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