Angry Italy protests to Israel after shots fired at UN in Lebanon

ROME (Reuters) - Israeli forces have acted illegally by shooting at positions used by U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday, denouncing it as a possible war crime.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel -- an area that has seen serious clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

UNIFIL said two of its peacekeepers were injured when Israeli soldiers fired on its positions on both Wednesday and Thursday.

"This was not a mistake and not an accident," Crosetto told a news conference. "It could constitute a war crime and represented a very serious violation of international military law," he said.

Crosetto said he had contacted his Israeli counterpart to protest and had also summonsed the Israeli ambassador to Italy to demand an explanation, which was not yet forthcoming.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Unlike some European countries, Italy has been highly supportive of Israel throughout its year-long war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Italy has traditionally supplied a large number of troops to UNIFIL, and although none of its contingent was injured this week, Crosetto said the Israeli actions would not be accepted.

Israel has sought to shift the UNIFIL peacekeepers away from the border, but Italy said it had no right to do so.

"I told the ambassador to tell the Israeli government that the United Nations and Italy cannot take orders from the Israeli government," Crosetto said.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Keith Weir)