ROME \u2014\u00a0Italy has used a new law to send special forces to fight the Islamic State group in Libya without informing Parliament, according to Italian reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few dozen Italian special forces soldiers are currently taking part in\u00a0operations to flush ISIS fighters out of the Libyan city of Sirte, media\u00a0reports on Thursday\u00a0claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ISIS fighters based in the city, including many Tunisians and veterans\u00a0of fighting in Syria, have controlled a long stretch of Libyan coast for\u00a0months.\u00a0But their grip on the city has weakened following US air raids in\u00a0support of ground forces made up of militias loyal to a unity government\u00a0backed by the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy has already given the US permission to launch strikes from the\u00a0Sigonella air base in Sicily, Italy, which is home to US aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Libya has collapsed into lawlessness in the last two years following a\u00a0split in the government, which saw rival administrations set up in\u00a0Tripoli and Tobruk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UN-backed government has won support from Tripoli\u00a0but not\u00a0from politicians in Tobruk, who are in turn supported by\u00a0neighboring Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italian special forces from the country’s Army, Navy and Air Force\u00a0have\u00a0reportedly joined British special forces helping militias from the city\u00a0of Misrata retake Sirte from ISIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the wake of last year’s terror attacks in Paris, the Italian\u00a0government passed a law allowing for special forces to be deployed in\u00a0anti-terror operations outside Italy under the control of Italy’s secret\u00a0services, rather than under military control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That switch in the command structure meant the operations did not not\u00a0require a parliamentary signoff, as would be the case with military\u00a0operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We do not have a military mission in Libya. If we did, Parliament\u00a0would have been informed,” Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told Italian\u00a0daily Corriere della Sera on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked if that also applied to secret service activity, Gentiloni\u00a0said: “By definition, I do not comment on operations of a classified\u00a0nature.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reports on Thursday of boots on the ground in Libya drew criticism from\u00a0opposition parties in Italy, where support for an armed intervention in\u00a0Libya is limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One report suggested the Italians were not engaged in combat with ISIS,\u00a0but were helping anti-ISIS militias defuse the mines and booby traps left by ISIS as it retreated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Italian military has built up experience clearing mines thanks to\u00a0the fact so many mines around the world are Italian-made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italian firm Valsella Meccanotecnica exported mines around the world in\u00a0the 1980s before Italy introduced a moratorium on anti-personnel mine\u00a0production in 1994 and a law banning their sale in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stocks were retained by the Italian military to allow it to train on\u00a0mine clearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The anarchy in Libya has allowed human traffickers to dispatch hundreds\u00a0of thousands of African migrants from Libyan beaches in dinghies into\u00a0the Mediterranean \u2014 headed for Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With 100,000 arriving in Italy so far this year, and with France and\u00a0Switzerland blocking their borders with Italy to stop migrants heading\u00a0for northern Europe, a buildup of migrant numbers in Italy is underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, as authorities in the Italian city of Milan gave temporary\u00a0shelter to 3,300 migrants, Italy’s Ministry of Defence gave initial\u00a0permission for the use of a disused Army barracks in the city as a dormitory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few dozen Italian special forces soldiers are currently taking part in operations to flush ISIS fighters out of the Libyan city of Sirte, media reports on Thursday claimed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":36262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":47,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[11,33,47],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3345],"class_list":["post-18757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global","category-home","category-mideast-africa"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FFWY5ADYMFELHIFVK5AU2PLNW4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/mideast-africa\/2016\/08\/11\/italy-reportedly-sends-special-forces-to-libya\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n