Strengthen the role of the military, civil and organizational authorities and the assets of the Armed Forces of Qatar and thirteen allied countries, including Italy, to assess the reactivity to emergencies and implement command, control and cooperation mechanisms between all actors involved in ensuring the safety of the World Cup, which will be played in the emirate of the Persian Gulf between November 20 and December 18.
This is the purpose of the Watan 2022, multinational joint and inter-agency exercise promoted by Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, head of the Security Committee for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, in which a wide and diverse typology was simulated interventions aimed at countering and neutralizing any possible threat deriving from the emergence of potential risks, both internal and external, which could undermine the smooth running of the historic event.
The exercise, considered one of the largest events in terms of number of units and subjects involved ever carried out within the country, saw the participation of the Italian soldiers of the "Orice" operation, the bilateral support mission to the Qatari Armed Forces to guarantee that the World Cup takes place in a safe setting.
Specialist units belonging to the Army's 7th Cremona CBRN Defense Regiment, in close cooperation with Turkish and US assets, have deployed in the port of Hamad, the main logistics hub of Qatar, where a large capacity decontamination station has been set up at support of the CBRN units of the Qatari Defense in which the in-depth decontamination of personnel and vehicles was carried out following the explosion of a container containing toxic industrial materials.
Forty-eight hours earlier, dog lovers from veterinary military center of the Army with capabilities EDD Patrol (Explosive Detection Dog) for the control and safety of critical installations and the search for explosive devices on the surface were used at the sports facility of Al Shahaniya, about thirty kilometers north-west of Doha.
The EOD assets of the C-IED center of excellence are also on site, with specific intervention capacities on conventional or improvised explosive devices, even with special loading (containing explosive material, chemical or biological agents, or radioactive sources), ready to move in support of special forces of the Qatari army, intervened to quell the riots caused by a group of troublemakers who, after having forced the security cordon of the police forces, hurled themselves at the agents with the launch of paper bombs and blunt objects.
Full satisfaction for the level of training and interoperability achieved, but also for the motivation and professionalism shown by all the personnel exercised, was expressed by the civil and military authorities present at the various stages of the exercise and by Brigadier General Giuseppe Bossa, operation commander Any.
All the activities of the Italian Joint Task Force led by the brigade Sassari, which includes about 560 soldiers from the Armed Forces and the Carabinieri with 46 land vehicles, a ship and two aircraft, are carried out under the coordination of operational command of interforce forces of the Defense, led by the general of the army corps Francesco Paolo Figliuolo.
