Opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein said Thursday Premier Giorgia Meloni had phoned her and the two leaders had agreed to give updates whenever necessary, especially on the "very worrying" Mideast crisis.

"Premier Meloni called me, and we agreed that we will update each other promptly whenever necessary in a situation, the one regarding the conflict in the Middle East, which is very worrying, especially in light of the attack on our base at Erbil," said the PD leader.

This came after Schlein said earlier she was willing to engage in dialogue with the government over how to handle the crisis in the Middle East but first Meloni needed to adopt a less aggressive approach.