About 180 marine, two KC130s and four Ospreys, they landed a few hours ago at the Naval Air Station in Sigonella, Sicily.
The base is a strategic springboard for all operations in North Africa. The team is ready to protect, if necessary, US facilities in the region.
The contingent - says the EUCOM note - has been moved due to the growing crisis situation in North Africa. All intelligence information is currently classified, but the current context justifies this precautionary move.
The "Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response Unit", based in Spain, at the Moron base, was established last year following attacks on the US diplomatic headquarters in Benghazi, Libya. It should be noted that the unit is mobility periodically in relation to potential threats in Africa.
If the situation requires it, the United States could mobilize in less than 4 hours another thousand marines from the Spanish base. The Aviano base was also alerted, as well as the rapid intervention groups present in the Mediterranean Sea.
For the US Department of Defense "the Marines in Sicily are ready to protect the personnel in service in the American plants in North Africa".
No reference to the Boko Haram affair.
Meanwhile, what we hypothesized in the past few hours (multinational force of special departments ready to intervene) could prove to be correct. As is known, the kidnapping of young female students has sparked a global movement aimed at freeing girls.
The countries involved in the research are the United States, France, Great Britain, Canada and Israel. A few hours ago Spain guaranteed the sending of a team of experts.
But the request for an armed intervention to free the girls takes shape. For US Senator John McCain, US special troops should already be in Nigeria. If we knew their location - McCain said - I would not hesitate for a moment to unleash our green caps, with or without permission from the Nigerian government, with or without the approval of a president named Goodluck Jonathan.
But beyond McCain's statements, there is also a statement by the Chamber's Secret Service Commission which, according to unconfirmed sources, has already proposed sending the Navy Seals.
Obama, a few weeks ago, on the Boko Haram affair was clear. Not now - Obama said - but sooner or later we will face them. Perhaps the timing will have to be reviewed considering that American politics seems to have put aside the classic controversy and hinted that if Obama were to decide to send his Tier-1 to Nigeria, he would do so without any kind of opposition.
Officially in Nigeria there should be no Western special departments, but almost certainly the opposite is happening as foreseen by the practice in crisis scenarios. At least five countries would have units in Nigeria or close to the borders, ready to intervene. A few hours ago we talked about the possible special units deployed.
Spain will send another contingent in the next few hours. China, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria are contributing to the research mission with satellite images. Almost certainly, in the next few hours, Germany will take the field with its own military force. On the European scene, Italy remains undecided, which has nevertheless condemned the episode.
Finally, a response is expected from Moscow. Russian public opinion, which after the annexation of the Crimea has rediscovered itself as a patriot, begins to push the prime minister for an intervention and could be the first test bed for the newly formed Mediterranean Sea War Fleet. The Russians have a Specnaz group in the Region, but at the moment, no proposal has been put forward by Putin, but a move should not delay in coming.
It should be emphasized that no other terrorist group on the planet has given media support to the Boko Haram group, as happened, for example, with other attacks in other parts of Africa. No declarations are recorded either by the Al Qaeda faction in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) or by Al Shabab in Somalia, groups very close to Boko Haram.
And this says a lot about what could happen in the next few hours. Because the emotional wave that has come about is comparable to that of 11 in September, with most of the world demanding justice. Immediate justice.
Because if the girls were to be found and if the special departments, among the most prepared and lethal in the world were to receive the "GO", they would end up only in one way: the complete physical elimination of the Boko Haram group.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian government continues to claim that all options have been taken into consideration, including the possibility of a military operation with foreign aid. Another signal for a possible multinational armed intervention.
Franco Iacch
(photo: Bell helicopters, Russian Federation MoD)
