On 20 September last, in Erbil (Iraq), the change ceremony of the commander of the national contingent in Iraq for the “Prima Parthica” operation took place. The Italian ambassador to Iraq was present at the event, if Marco Carnelos, the commander of the Operational Command of Vertice Interforze (COI), adm. team Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the interior minister and minister of the Peshmerga (interim) of the Autonomous Region of Iraqi Kurdistan, Abdul Sultan Karim Sinjari and numerous other civil, military and diplomatic authorities.
After 300 exact days of intense operational and training activity, Brigadier General Francesco Maria Ceravolo ceded the command to the parigrado Roberto Vannacci. A long and very intense period that reached the end, which saw the gen. Ceravolo carry out, in addition to the function of Italian Senior National Representative (ITSNR), also those of commander of the national contingent and of deputy commanding general for training at the Combined Joint Force Land Component Command - operation Inherent Resolve.
In the field of training, the results achieved under the guidance of gen. In this period, Ceravolo consisted of over 7000 members of the Kurdish-Iraqi security forces trained by Italian soldiers and approximately 4.500 units of the Iraqi police forces trained by the carabinieri.
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, in his greeting address openly acknowledged the results achieved by the outgoing Italian general, complimenting the numerous certificates of esteem received from both the coalition and the Iraqi authorities and the KRG.
The senior officer also renewed the testimony of esteem, trust and gratitude of the Italian armed forces for the men and women of the operation
The gen. Vannacci, former commander of the paratroopers brigade thunderbolt, has a long career at an international level, largely matured abroad in all theaters where the armed force has operated in the last 30 years.
Among the previous assignments, that of head of the international relations office of the defense major and commander of the 9 raid regiment “Col. Moschin ".
In compliance with the UN Security Council Resolutions n. 2170 (2014) of 15 August 2014 and no. 2178 (2014) of 27 September 2014, Italy participates with the "Mission Prima Parthica, second contributor after the USA, to the" Inherent Resolve "operation to combat international terrorism": 1.500 soldiers belonging to all the armed forces, employed in the Baghdad and Erbil offices in the training of Kurdish security forces (peshmerga) and Iraqis, and assuring the whole coalition, with a Task Group aircraft located at the Erbil airport, the capacity of Personal Recovery (PR) throughout the northern quadrant of the Iraqi theater.
Within this mission, the Task Force "Praesidium", with its 500 men and women of the Italian Army, guarantees safety at the dam site where the Italian company Trevi SpA is working to secure the hydraulic infrastructure and avoid the risk of an environmental catastrophe.
