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G7 holds first ever meeting dedicated to defence

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West grapples with Middle East, Ukraine, China

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Ministers back Ukraine in NATO, ceasefire in Gaza

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Group of demonstrators clash with police

(Adds detail)

By Angelo Amante

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Defence ministers of

the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy democracies on Saturday backed

Ukraine's "irreversible" path to NATO membership and expressed

concern over threats to United Nations peacekeepers targeted by

Israel in Lebanon.

The first ever gathering of G7 defence ministers took place

as Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah exchanged fire,

with one drone directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu's holiday home, according to his spokesperson.

Italy holds the G7 rotating presidency for 2024 while the

West also grapples with the Russian advance in Ukraine and

China's military activities around Taiwan, as well as heightened

tensions along the border of North and South Korea.

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, who hosted the

meeting in the southern city of Naples, 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 includes the United States, Canada,

France, Germany and Britain. Representatives of NATO, the

European Union and the Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov

also joined the talks.

In an earlier speech to kick off the meeting, Crosetto

warned of a "deteriorated security framework" across the world

and said near-term forecasts for conflict resolution "cannot be

positive".

Tensions are 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".

This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pitched

his "victory plan" to the EU and NATO but failed to get the

immediate membership invitation he was calling for.

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 concern at China's support to Moscow and

Beijing's recent military drills around Taiwan.

CEASEFIRE CALLS

Before the meeting, Crosetto welcomed photographers holding

a model of a tiny red animal horn, a symbol of good luck

according to time-honoured Neapolitan tradition.

The aerobatics team of the Italian Air Force flew over the

Naples Royal Palace which housed the event, leaving behind the a

trail of smoke in the red, white and green colours of the

national flag in the overcast sky.

A few hundred demonstrators gathered under the rain, and

paraded through the city centre holding Palestinian flags and

asking for an immediate stop to the war in Gaza. Some minor

clashes with police were reported.

The G7 joint declaration called for an immediate ceasefire

in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas,

saying attacks and retaliation risked "fuelling uncontrollable

escalation in the Middle East".

The EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell said Thursday's

killing of former Hamas leader Yahya 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 U.N. mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL which

was recently targeted by Israel in its conflict against

Hezbollah, could be made more effective but it would be up to

the U.N. Security Council to make decisions on its future.

U.S. Defence 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 intent to target UNIFIL in

Lebanon.

Italy is a major contributor to UNIFIL which is stationed in

southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation

line with Israel. Israeli attacks have angered Prime Minister

Giorgia Meloni, who visited Lebanon and Jordan on Friday.