Italy ‘to discuss bombing Iraq with allies’

Italy’s Defense Ministry says the country is to discuss with its allies whether to join the United States-led coalition that is conducting airstrikes against alleged Daesh targets in Iraq.

Responding to a newspaper report, the ministry issued a statement on Tuesday, saying the prospect was “to be discussed with our allies.”

The Milan-based Corriere della Sera daily had alleged earlier in the day that Kuwait-based Italian warplanes were due to be ordered “within the next hours” to bomb targets “jointly selected with the American command” in Iraqi territory.

The ministry, however, said this was “just a hypothesis… not a taken decision, which would in any case have to pass through parliament.”

Since August 2014, the United States and some of its allies have been conducting airstrikes against what they say are the positions of Daesh in Iraq. The campaign has so far failed to uproot the terrorists.

Some of the members of the US-led coalition have also pounding purported Daesh positions inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a United Nations mandate since last September.

This comes as Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has recently told Iranian state TV that the US-led strikes against purported Daesh strongholds inside Syria have been counter-productive leading to spread of terrorism.

This is while Syria has requested military assistance from its ally Russia to target Daesh.

Upon the request by Damascus, Russia has been conducting airstrikes of its own against Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria for over a week now.

Russia has voiced readiness to pound Daesh positions in Iraq as well if Baghdad asks Moscow to do so.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had told France 24 television on October 1 that Iraq would welcome any such military measures by Moscow on its soil. However, Baghdad has not made an official request in that regard, yet.

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