Italian ministers stressed
Monday that Italy is part of the drive to defeat Islamic State
(ISIS) after a summit of 30 countries in Paris agreed "swift
action" two days after the militants beheaded a third Western
hostage.
ISIS poses "a global threat that knows no borders," Italian
Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said after the summit.
"We are all agreed on the need to act together, on the
sense of urgency: act quickly, act together", said Mogherini,
who takes up her new job as EU high representative for foreign
affairs next month.
But she stressed that Italy would not be joining military
operations against the militants who have carved swathes of
Syria and Iraq into a self-proclaimed caliphate.
Italy is sending arms and aid to Iraq against ISIS but
won't take part in air operations against the militants,
Mogherini said.
Asked after the summit if Italy would follow the first
French reconnaissance planes joining the US air effort,
Mogherini replied:
"No, Italy has decided to send arms, munitions, and above
all material for humanitarian support, which is a priority".
Rome has sent weapons to the Kurdish militias, the
Peshmerga, who have been battling ISIS but have complained their
arms deficit has prevented them stopping the onslaught.
Air operations will not be stymied by Turkey denying its
bases, with plenty other bases in the Gulf States as well as US
aircraft carrier USS Bush, sources at the summit said.
A statement issued by the 30 countries taking part pledged
to help Iraq fight ISIS "by any means necessary".
ISIS at the weekend beheaded British aid worker David
Haines, sparking renewed outrage and stiffening the
international resolve to combat ISIS.
He was the third hostage to be beheaded after US
journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
At the summit, the 30 countries agreed "swift
and united" action against ISIS.
In the fight against ISIS, "there's no time to waste," said
French president Francois Hollande, who hosted the gathering.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that seeing
thirty of the world's most powerful countries come together to
combat ISIS gives hope.
"The threat is worldwide, we're all involved. Our action is
global and long-term," Fabius said.
"The aim is not just to beat ISIS back but to destroy it".
The conference followed a whirlwind tour of the Middle East
by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Kerry, who attended the summit, has been drumming up
support for a plan of action unveiled by President Barack Obama
last week.
Back in Rome, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said new
rules are in the works to seal "a hole" in Italian laws to
better deal with any citizen who chooses to fight on the side of
terrorist groups such as ISIS.
He warned that the jihadists in ISIS present "a terrible
threat against moderate Islam, but also against the West" and
its values.
The group is also targeting any State that opposes them and
the only response is to "strengthen" the tools to fight
terrorism, he said in a letter to Italian daily newspaper
Corriere della Sera.
That must be done at the national level and also among
European states working together, said Alfano.
Current European rules dealing with terrorists, introduced
in 2005 after terror attacks in London, punish recruitment and
training of terrorists, but don't go far enough, he said.
"We must now add a new provision that takes account of the
evolution of the threat," said Alfano.
Anti-mafia laws dealing with preventative measures may be
necessary, he said, to deal with what he called "aspiring
fighters".
"The purpose is to neutralize the danger at the root, by
applying a measure of special surveillance of public security
that would deprive him of any ability to do harm," the minister
said.
Also on Monday, the Vatican said ISIS have leveled no
specific threat against Pope Francis.
"There is no reason to change the pope's itinerary ... or
way of traveling," Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi
said.
Francis is slated to travel to the Albanian capital of
Tirana for a day trip on Sunday, September 21, when he will
celebrate Mass in Mother Theresa Square.
The pope will move around the square on a white jeep
convertible just like the he uses for general hearings in St.
Peter's Square, said Lombardi.
"There is no particular reason for concern," he added.
"Of course we are all worried over news about ISIS and the
situation in the Middle East, but there are no risks or specific
threats," Lombardi concluded.
Meanwhile an investigative source in Syria told ANSA that
two Italian women being held hostage there are not in ISIS's
hands.
Greta Ramelli and Vanessa Marzullo, two young aid workers
who went missing in Syria on July 31, are in northern Syria,
west of Aleppo, the source said.
The source said Ramelli and Marzullo are held captive by
Syrian militia from the region between Aleppo and Idlib, not far
from Abizmu, the area where they were last seen at the end of
July.
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