TWO European aid groups docked their rescue ships in Italian ports on Sunday allowing some 500 would-be refugees to disembark.

This came as the new far-right Italian government insisted that it wasn’t backing down on its hard line against migrant smuggling operations from North Africa.

The Geo Berents, chartered by French aid group Doctors Without Borders, pulled into port in Salerno, near Naples, and 248 people who were rescued in the Mediterranean in recent days disembarked.

“They are happy and relieved, satisfied, and so are we,” said Juan Matias Gil, head of the mission, from the port at Salerno.

Farther north along the Adriatic, the Humanity 1, operated by the German aid group SOS Humanity, arrived in the port at Bari with 261 people aboard and all disembarked by Sunday afternoon. 

SOS Humanity said in a statement that they endured a rough journey that included 12-foot waves and that the group’s request for a closer port was ignored.

This followed the arrival on Friday of the vessel Louise Michel in Lampedusa, Sicily. 

Thirty-three people disembarked from the ship funded and decorated by street artist Banksy.

The new government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose allies campaigned on a tough anti-immigrant stance, has tried to take a hard line against aid groups that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean.

The government accuses aid groups of incentivising illegal migration and rewarding human traffickers, who charge hundreds of euros apiece for the dangerous Mediterranean crossing from Libya. 

The aid groups deny their rescue operations encourage migration and say they are necessary to save lives.

Aid groups and legal experts have argued that Italy’s policy violates international law and maritime conventions, which call for people rescued at sea to be taken to the closest port of safety as soon as possible.