The President of the Senate Pietro Grasso, accompanied by the Italian Ambassador to Baghdad Marco Carnelos, has today visited the national contingent deployed in Iraqi Kurdistan as part of the "Prima Parthica" operation.
During the meeting with the Italian military, the president of the Senate expressed words of great appreciation for the meritorious work carried out by the staff of the Italian Army engaged in military training for the staff of the KSF (Kurdish Security Forces).
In particular, he expressed his satisfaction with the results achieved, highlighting how the work done by men and women belonging to all the armed forces is always highly appreciated by all the political and military authorities, national and international, but above all by the institutions and by the Kurdish population.
The president added: "These are the sincere and affectionate comments that I have also gathered here in Erbil from the voice of the president and the prime minister of the autonomous region and that I bring you with pride because the esteem and respect we are surrounded with comes from your daily toil , from your commitment and also from the sacrifice of depriving yourself in these days of the warmth of families and home ".
At the end of the speech, he formulated the message of thanks and good wishes for the upcoming Christmas holidays on behalf of the Italian institutions.
In the remainder of the visit the Italian contingent commander has updated President Grasso on the training situation highlighting the gradual improvement of the capabilities of the Kurdish Security Forces as evidence of the successes achieved in the last military operations against ISIS in the areas of Sinjar and Kirkuk.
The Italian contingent in Erbil is made up of about 200 men and women who have trained over 2000 since last January Peshmerga of the total 5000 trained by the international coalition in the training of infantry, in the procedures against improvised explosive devices (IED counter), in the activity of first aid, in the training to the direct shooting with the portable weapons and the indirect shooting with the artillery and the mortars.