Italy's Tajani seeks de-escalation with Israel's Katz, Lebanon's Habib

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has discussed efforts to prevent a new war in the Middle East with his Israeli and Lebanese counterparts, Israel Katz and Bou Habib, he said on Monday.

Tensions escalated between Israel and armed political group Hezbollah after a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday killed 12 children and teenagers.

"Breaking the spiral of violence is possible," Tajani wrote on social media platform X.

If Hezbollah respect U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, which halted the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war in south Lebanon, an Israeli attack could be averted, he told Italy's Rai News television.

He added that the evacuation of the about 3,000 Italian civilians living in Lebanon would only be necessary if the crisis worsened but encourage his compatriots to leave.

In his X post, Tajani said that the Italian government was committed to peace and stability, including through Italy's presence in the United Nations' peacekeeping force in Lebanon UNIFIL.

Italy, which currently holds the rotating G7 presidency, is a major contributor to UNIFIL and is usually highly cautious over Lebanon, not wanting to create problems for Italian forces operating in the country.

Tajani said in a ministerial statement that he requested parties to guarantee the protection of the UNIFIL contingent, which includes over 1,000 Italian peacekeepers.

"Continuing and widening the conflict is in no one's interest", he added, and repeated that Italy supports any mediation initiative to promote dialogue.

(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi, editing by Bernadette Baum and Keith Weir)