War

Middle East, 4 attacks in 16 days against bases with Italian soldiers

In sixteen days, three attacks on Ali Al Salem and a raid on Camp Singara: Italian soldiers all unharmed, but tension grows in the area

by Rome Editorial Staff

15 March 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

New attack on Ali Al Salem: drone on hangar, Italy aircraft destroyed
12 March raid on Camp Singara in Erbil: base with 140 Italian soldiers hit
On 2 March the second strike on Ali Al Salem: more Italian soldiers in the bunkers
First attack on 28 February: missiles from Iran and severely damaged runway

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Sixteen days of war, four direct attacks against military bases in the Middle East where Italian soldiers are also operating, a sequence that from Kuwait to Iraq recounts the extent to which the conflict between Iran, the United States and Israel is widening its threat radius.

The base in Ali Al Salem, Kuwait, which has been hit three times since the beginning of the joint US-Israeli attacks against Iran, ended up in the crosshairs. Then it was also the turn of Camp Singara in Erbil, Iraq.

The most weighty fact, for now, is this: no Italian military personnel have been wounded, because in each episode the personnel took refuge in the bunkers. But the pressure grows, the damage accumulates, and the latest raid, today's, has already left a concrete mark with the destruction of an aircraft of the Italian Air Task Force. In the background also remain other attacks that, in the same area, have involved UN blue helmets.

Perché è davvero una nuova Guerra del Golfo

New attack in Ali Al Salem: drone on hangar, Italy aircraft destroyed

The 15 March episode once again brings the base at Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, which has become one of the most exposed points in this phase of the war in the Middle East, to the centre of the crisis. A drone hit a hangar inside the facility, hitting the area where a remotely piloted aircraft of the Italian Air Task Force was located, which was destroyed.

It is an MQ-9A 'Predator', used in the 'Prima Parthica' operation under the command of Air Force Colonel Marco Mangini. It was used for surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions in Coalition activities aimed at defeating Isis.

From a human point of view, the contingent was not affected: all personnel were already safe and were not involved in the attack.

However, the military and symbolic fact of the raid remains: for the third time in little more than two weeks, the same base that hosts international vehicles and soldiers is targeted, confirming that Ali Al Salem is now a sensitive junction in the regional crisis.

Cosa ne sarà dell’Iran?

12 March raid on Camp Singara in Erbil: base with 140 Italian soldiers hit

Before the new attack in Kuwait, the tension had shifted to Iraq, where on 12 March, a Shahed drone hit Camp Singara, in Erbil. In this case too, there was an Italia contingent at the base: 140 soldiers, all of whom managed to take shelter in the bunkers.

The attack on Camp Singara has clearly shown that the threat does not concern a single theatre of operations. There is not only Kuwait within the raid radius: Iraq has also entered the sequence of episodes that are affecting international missions with an Italian presence. The fact that the contingent remained entirely unharmed does not reduce the weight of the event, because the target was still a base where Italian soldiers operate in an area that is already highly unstable.

On 2 March the second strike on Ali Al Salem: more Italian soldiers in the bunkers

On 2 March, the Ali Al Salem base had already come under attack again. This was the second raid against the Kuwaiti facility since the beginning of the war, a further sign of the continuity and insistence with which that garrison is targeted.

Even then, the Italian soldiers on the base had managed to secure themselves in the bunkers, avoiding personal consequences.

First attack on 28 February: missiles from Iran and severely damaged runway

The first episode dates back to 28 February, when the Ali Al Salem base was hit by missile attacks from Iran. It is the initial step in a chronology that, in the space of sixteen days, turns the Kuwaiti base into one of the symbolic places of the vulnerability of international missions in the region.

In that raid, the Italian Air Force soldiers were already sheltered in the bunker and remained unharmed. The attack, however, caused extensive damage to the runway, immediately showing the extent of the offensive. From then on, the base would be hit twice more, until the raid on 15 March against the hangar and the destruction of the Italian drone.