2015-12-04 According to an article published on the Italian Ministry of Defence website, Italy is supporting the Pershmerga in the common fight against ISIS.
Italy will keep supporting the Kurdish Regional Government and institutions in their effort to counter ISIS.
This is part of Italy’s contribution to the global fight against terrorist organizations which, after the Paris attacks, have shown they can also strike in the West. Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti made this statement during her meeting with Interior Minister and Interim Minister for the Peshmerga Karim Sinjari.
Talks were also attended by top Peshmerga officers and by the High Representative of the KRG to Italy, Rezan Kader. The Kurdish delegation is going to conduct meetings with other members of the anti-Daesh Coalition.
Roberta Pinotti expressed her appreciation for the leading role assumed by the Peshmerga in the fight against Daesh.
The current situation in Iraq’s northern regioni s characterized by positive outcomes obtained on the ground by the Iraqi Security Forces and Peshmerga, as well as a decreasing threat level.
“We – together with the other members of the Coalition- will keep providing training courses to Kurdistan Security Forces”. The Minister also underscored that Italy, with its 200 trainers, is the Kurdish Training Coordination Centre’s first contributor.
Karim Sinjari thanked Roberta Pinotti for Italy’s commitment, and expressed his appreciation for Italy’s engagement within the International Coalition to fight Daesh. “Italy is a very important country for us: without your help most probably we would not be here today to tell you about the situation in our region”, the Kurdish Minister said.
Starting from January 2015 the Italian contingent has trained over 2,000 Peshmerga out of 5,000 soldiers trained by member countries of the European Coalition (Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and Hungary). Training covers the sectors of mine clearing, counter-IED and unexploded ordnance, marksmanship and urban combat techniques.
Moreover, from the beginning of 2016, a team made up of 15 Carabinieri will deploy in Erbil to train the Kurdish regional Police.