Rome, August 10 - Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema will visit Lebanon next week for talks with the Lebanese government, the Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday .
D'Alema will leave on Monday for the Lebanese capital of Beirut, which has been heavily bombed by Israel in its month-long war with militant Lebanese group Hezbollah .
The ministry said the purpose of the visit was to "gain direct information about the situation in Lebanon and an assessment of the prospects for a political solution to the crisis" .
Premier Romano Prodi told reporters on Thursday that he had just spoken by phone to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak .
"Mubarak expressed great concern over developments in the crisis," Prodi said .
"At a moment of great anxiety in which many are resigned to the worst, it's important that Italy remains attentive, present and willing to help," the centre-left leader said .
D'Alema visited Israel at the end of July for talks with the Israeli government and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice .
The foreign minister also presided with Rice over a conference on Lebanon in Rome on July 26 .
The summit brought together ministers from 13 countries (Italy, the US, Lebanon, Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Finland, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey) plus representatives from the UN, the World Bank and the European Union .
Siniora was present along with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But neither Israel nor Hezbollah representatives attended, and nor did Syria and Iran, who are accused of backing Hezbollah .
In their final statement, the diplomats pledged to do their best to help achieve a "lasting, permanent and sustainable" ceasefire but stopped short of calling for an immediate truce, leading critics to brand it a failure .
The conflict was triggered by a Hezbollah incursion into Israeli territory on July 12 when guerrillas belonging to the group killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two others .
So far, at least 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and more than 115 Israelis, mostly soldiers .
AID WORKERS ACCUSE ISRAEL OF USING CHEMICAL ARMS .
Meanwhile, Italian aid workers and pacifists returning to Italy from Beirut on Thursday urged the Italian government to do more to help secure a ceasefire .
The delegation representing non-governmental organisations and pacifist associations spent three days in Lebanon where they said they had found "destruction everywhere" .
"Italy must immediately work to obtain a ceasefire... Lebanon believes Italy can play an effective role. Everyone in Lebanon appealed to us to get Italy to do more to halt this war," the delegation said .
The aid workers said there was also evidence that Israel was using chemical weapons in Lebanon as well as cluster bombs .
"In the south of Lebanon, bodies have been found which are blackened but not burned, with their internal organs damaged. Others have been found with cluster bomb fragments inside them," they said .
"The Lebanese government is opening an inquiry into the use of non-conventional weapons by Israel," they said. Last month, leading Italian missionary Father Alex Zanotelli accused Israel of deploying chemical weapons such as white phosphorus, which has been used by American forces in Iraq .
Zanotelli said there appeared to be growing testimony and photographic evidence of the use of such munitions .
"The photos show the mummified bodies of adults and children, just like in Falluja in Iraq," he said .
America is alleged to have used white phosphorus against insurgents and civilians during its November 2004 battle for control of Falluja to the west of Baghdad .
The Israeli army has denied using banned weapons in Lebanon .
White phosphorus is a spontaneously flammable chemical which is capable of burning and melting human skin. The smoke it produces is capable of causing external and internal chemical burns .
A 1983 international treaty restricts the use of white phosphorus devices, banning their use against civilians or civilian objects. The US has signed the convention but the American Senate has yet to ratify the part covering incendiary devices .
The US has rejected claims that indiscriminate use of white phosphorus munitions led to numerous civilian deaths in Falluja .
It says that white phosphorus was used only as an incendiary weapon against insurgent strongholds in Falluja .
