The Italian government on Tuesday said Italian fighter missions to bomb Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Iraq was "a hypothesis".
The government was responding to media reports that raised the possibility that Italian anti-ISIS missions might be starting soon. The defence ministry said that the use of Italian fighters to bomb ISIS in Iraq was "just a hypothesis to evaluate with our allies and not a decision taken which, in any case, will have to pass through parliament". The ministry said the statement was in response to press reports. Daily newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Tuesday that Italian Tornado jets belonging to the international coalition fighting ISIS "in the next few hours will have the task of bombing Iraq".
Italy has been taking part in the coalition for a year with four Tornadoes, a refuelling plane and several weapon-less Predator drones.
The number of Italian staff is 140, working on reconnaissance missions. Italy has also been supplying weapons to the Kurdish Peshmerga troops fighting ISIS.
An Italian training programme for the Kurdish fighters is also ongoing. According to Corriere della Sera, Italy has made a fundamental distinction between Iraq and Syria.
Premier Matteo Renzi has repeatedly expressed Italy's position against intervening in Syria, while in Iraq "the Iraqi government has asked us to intervene and also to bomb," the Milan daily reported.
Interviewed by ANSA Tuesday, former air force chief of staff General Leonardo Tricarico said using Italy's Tornado jets to bomb ISIS in Iraq would be a "significant" step but it would be even better if the US agrees to arm Italy's Predator drones against the self-styled Caliphate.
Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti, who will meet US Defence Secretary Ash Carter Wednesday, should press him about getting the armed versions of the drones, said Tricarico, a former military advisor to the Italian premier's office.
"The debate that has opened on possible Italian bombing," Tricarico said, "is consistent with the somnolence and lack of desire with which the international community has decided to fight the so-called Islamic State.
"If we really want to hit ISIS all of us need to roll up up their sleeves and put into the field everything they have got to give to take the place of a coalition that has thus far proved not very effective," he went on. Tricarico, president of the ICSA Foundation, went on to criticise France's initiative to conduct raids against ISIS targets, calling it "a sign of the extreme superficiality with which action is being taken".
As for Italy, the general said "if our Tornadoes are authorised not only for reconnaissance but also as strikers, there's no scandal there, despite the usual pacifist hysteria that is re-awoken every time in these cases.
"The decision could skip the parliamentary rubberstamp but in actual fact this seems to be obligatory because the initiative sparks alarm among public opinion," Tricarico went on to say.
The fighter-bombers, he said, "are aircraft fit for purpose, they have shown this over the years: they can hit targets with elevated precision and a margin of error of a metre".
But Tricarico insisted on what he called the "bizarre" Predator question.
"We have had the Predators for almost 11 years, but we still haven't got a weapons license the US administration has to give out for them.
"Evidently, they don't consider us to be allies that are reliable as the British and so they aren't giving us the weapons kit that would make our Predators much more useful than the Tornadoes in that theatre".
Tricarico insisted: "I think that Pinotti must seize the opportunity, to speak with her US colleague and put an end to an embarrassing situation".
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