From the Defence Council to the Viminale's plan: increased vigilance in tourist areas also in view of Easter
From web monitoring to physical surveillance on the ground, the security machinery accelerates to prevent radicalisation risks, isolated actions and possible internal repercussions of the Middle East conflict
Key points
Theterrorism risk is at the heart of the Middle East crisis and also directly affects Italian security. This is the clearest point that emerged from the Supreme Defence Council meeting at the Quirinale, which pointed out how the widening of the conflict triggered by the military action of the United States and Israel against Iran could foster terrorist actions, new forms of hybrid warfare, and seriously destabilising consequences at the international level.
Easter, tourist areas and crowded places: the guard is already up
The Ministry of the Interior's plan moves within this framework. The guard is high, especially in tourist areas and in places with the highest concentration of people, also in view of the Easter holidays. The device, however, concerns the entire national territory and aims to prevent any possible dragging effect of the international crisis on the domestic security.
The Viminale's plan: 28 thousand sensitive targets under protection
Twenty-eight thousand sensitive targets have entered an enhanced protection zone: embassies, consulates, synagogues, mosques, cultural centres. A capillary map pulsating under a higher level of alert, as Italia tries to armour everything that could become a target.
Viminale chief Matteo Piantedosi did not wait for specific signals. There is no circumstantial alarm, nor a precise name on the table. There is, however, the most insidious fear: that the war will awaken sleeper cells of fundamentalist matrix, invisible nuclei capable of remaining silent for years and activating themselves before a geopolitical trigger.
Housing, intelligence and cities under special surveillance
This is the scenario brought into focus by the Casa, the Strategic Anti-Terrorism Analysis Committee, which called for an immediate qualitative leap in the response. All the pillars of national security were gathered around the same table: Carabinieri, Guardia di finanza, State Police and the entire Information System for the Security of the Republic, with Dis, Aisi and Aise. The result was the immediate reinforcement of surveillance on every target traceable to Iran, Israel and US interests. Rome, Milan and Naples are the cities with the highest priority. In the Capital, the Jewish Ghetto and the embassy areas are under constant surveillance. But control has been intensified everywhere, without exception.
