The decision to allow armed
American drones to take off from a NATO-Italian air base at
Sigonella in Sicily for operations against the so-called Islamic
State (ISIS) fundamentalist militia in Libya and North Africa
"is not a prelude to military intervention", Foreign Minister
Paolo Gentiloni said Tuesday.
"The use of bases does not require a specific communication
to parliament, but rather evaluations will be made by the
defense minister" on a case by case basis, he added.
The authorisation granted by the Italian government is
"confirmation of the cooperation between Italy and the US on a
case by case basis, and it is cooperation aimed at defense
operations," Gentiloni said.
"Moreover I don't believe the authorization is aimed at
Libya specifically, but at anti-terror operations in general,"
he concluded.
On Monday The Wall Street Journal reported that the Italian
government had agreed to let armed US drones use the base in
January in operations against ISIS in Libya and across North
Africa.
The deal came after over a year of negotiations, the US
financial paper said.
The green light reportedly arrived from Rome on the
condition that the drones be used only "for purposes of defence,
to protect US special forces operations in Libya".
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