Italian soldiers in the Middle East, a repositioning towards the West is being considered
In the area directly affected by the crisis in the Middle East, there were 2,576 people before the conflict, but now the scenario is completely different and at least 400 soldiers are being redeployed in total
Key points
Far away from Kuwait and Iraq, while pondering the future of the blue helmets along the Lebanese border line, with an alternative plan in the drawer. Two weeks after the outbreak of the new Gulf War, Italia has a new posture, further to the west. Lebanon to the north and Djibouti to the south will remain - at least temporarily - the last outposts of Italia's peacekeeping contingents in that Asian quadrant.
Repositioning operation
In the area directly affected by the crisis in the Middle East, there were 2,576 soldiers before the conflict, but now the scenario is completely different and at least 400 soldiers are being redeployed altogether. From Kuwait, 239 soldiers were moved to Saudi Arabia: out of the initial 321, 82 are left and two of our F2000 fighters remain on the ground, one of which has been ineffective for about a month. Both were hit by shrapnel during the recent attacks.
In Qatar, seven out of ten soldiers from Operation Oryx reached Saudi Arabia, while in Bahrain, the five from the Red Sea Combined Task Force were all withdrawn.
Prima Parthica
From Erbil, which was attacked on the night of 11-12 March, 102 soldiers of the Prima Parthica mission had already been transferred, of whom around 40 to Jordan, while all the other 141 will soon be evacuated to return to Italia. The mission in Erbil, which is for training purposes, is therefore de facto suspended and it was deemed that there is no reason to keep soldiers in the base exposing them to unnecessary risks. But with the airspace closed, a complex ground operation from Iraqi Kurdistan through Turkey is looming.
Unifil
Different is the mandate of Unifil, where the 1,300 Italians in Shama, Al Mansouri and Naqura have remained close to the 'blue line' in Lebanon despite being in an even more critical situation. For this reason, the Italian Defence Force is carefully assessing the situation and is ready to meet any need: the ship is already in the area and the evacuation plan would be ready to be triggered should it be necessary. Everything depends on the verification of the conditions for the continuation of the mission. Beyond the monitoring of the various armies with the Lebanese authority, the United Nations and the Israeli counterpart, it will have to be the UN Secretary General, who is in Beirut for these reasons, who will have to give his opinion: the current rules of engagement are calibrated to the presence of the blue helmets within a peace mission, even if that territory has now become a war zone, with daily clashes and raids. Lebanon - where Italia is also engaged with Mibil to support the local security forces - is the front with the most open scenarios, precisely in view of the closure of Unifil that will take place by the end of 2026. If the idea of another UN mission with different rules of engagement should fade away, the most accredited hypothesis is the creation of bilateral missions to strengthen the Lebanese army so that it can become autonomous and trained to deal with the tensions and the crisis that the country is going through as soon as possible. In practice, one of the main objectives of the UN plan itself would continue to be pursued, with different forms and modalities.
