Italy Far-right Leader Once Hailed Iran, Hezbollah As Defenders of Syrian Christians

Speaking to reporters in December 2018, Meloni said that if not for Hezbollah and the rest of the pro-Assad front — which includes Iran and Russia — Christians in Syria would no longer be able to display the nativity scene depicting Jesus Christ’s birth during Christmas.

In an unrelated tweet from 2014, Meloni decried “another massacre of children in Gaza” amid the ‘Israeli’ war on the besieged enclave. The Twitter post appeared to be in response to deadly strikes on a hospital and playground in a Gaza City refugee camp.

Brothers of Italy, which Meloni founded in 2012, is a political descendant of the Italian Social Movement [MSI], formed after WWII. Soaring in popularity — up from just 4% four years ago — the party uses a symbol featuring a tri-colored flame that had been an icon of MSI.