Italy is to halve its
1,500-strong military contingent in Iraq this year, the defence
ministry confirmed Tuesday.
Italy will "guarantee its commitment in Iraq inside the
Coalition, reducing by about a half its military deployment on
the basis of developments in the security situation and the
Iraqi needs and on the basis of future common objectives agreed
during an anti-ISIS ministerial meeting which took place in Rome
today," it said.
In Iraq, the ministry said, "Italy has contributed in a
substantive way to the defeat of Daesh (ISIS) through the
reconstruction of the Iraqi security forces, including the
Kurdish component.
"The current scenario enables Italy to start a significant
reduction of the national contingent (currently composed of
around 1,500 soldiers) which can be roughly halved".
During the course of the anti-ISI country ministers' meeting,
"Iraq thanked the coalition and especially Italy for the
important contribution given to the fight against terrorism and
the training of soldiers and police forces at Baghdad, Erbil and
Mosul".
photo: Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti
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