The mission of the Italian special forces in the Sahel starts

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
07/02/21

In recent days, political attention is entirely focused on the consultations of President Draghi, who is committed to finding the synthesis (an expression that has recently become very popular) between the various parliamentary forces to form a government.

However, the most urgent commitment that the forthcoming Draghi government will have to face in the coming weeks will be the launch of the mission Takuba in the Sahel. In fact, in mid-March, the sending of 200 Italian soldiers - including special forces and support units with helicopters and vehicles - will begin in Mali (but the operations will also be extended to other countries in the region), with the aim of fighting the groups of tuareg jihadists.

In these days, a detachment of special forces sent back from Mali to carry out a reconnaissance in the field.

The composition of the Italian contingent should follow that adopted at the time for the Task Force 45 in Afghanistan and the 44 in Iraq, with operators (in rotation) of the 9th assault rgt With Moschin, the GOI, the GIS and the 17th wing of the Italian Air Force. In addition, ranger teams from the Monte Cervino and of the RRAO.

As per specific request of the French, the Italian special forces will be supported by a rotary wing component of the 3rd REOS of Viterbo, with medium UH-90, heavy CH-47F and AH-129D attack helicopters.

The use of the 1st Parachute Carabinieri Regiment is not to be excluded Tuscania, given the enormous experience gained by this department in counter-interdiction operations in the international missions in which it participated.

The mission of our special forces will be to provide training to local forces, including the activity of mentoring. This will mean that they will follow the departments in operation, directly participating in any clashes.

Obviously, the Italian detachments will also carry out other activities, such as in-depth reconnaissance (with LINCE and special vehicles Flyer 4x4 that can be boarded on CH-47F) rather than light up of the targets in favor of the French air forces of the operation Barkhane.

We remind readers that the Tuareg are well-tempered guerrillas, they move with pickup loads of weapons, even heavy ones such as RPG-7 and 82 mm mortars, but above all they know very well the art of navigation in the desert and they can make use of the collaboration of local populations.

Photo: Ministère des Armées - opération Barkhane