Italian politicians request government to clarify whether US drone which killed Iranian general departed from Sicily’s base in Sigonella

Questions about the use of Sigonella base for the operation which killed the Iranian general in Iraq became more pertinent as concerns were raised following the government’s silence on the matter.

The controversy reopened after Luca Cangemi, of the national secretariat of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) denounced the “silence” around the alleged involvement of the Sicilian Naval Air Station in the murder of the head of the Qods division.

“An operation of enormous strategic importance such as that of the killing of General Soleimani, carried out with drones, necessarily involves the Sigonella base”, attacks Cangemi. And he says: “This should pose pressing problems of a political nature, but also of a constitutional one to the government and to Parliament. Instead there is silence. ”

“It is a duty that the Italian government declares the unavailability of the military bases located on Italian territory – from Aviano to Sigonella – for the operations that the US is conducting in the Middle East”, asks Maurizio Acerbo, secretary of the Communist Refoundation (PRC) – European Left.

A request to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and to the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini to clarify “immediately the role” of the Sigonella base comes from the Greens coordinator Angelo Bonelli who, “if involvement was confirmed”, considers a “revision of the 1954 Treaty necessary between the USA and Italy on the use of American bases on Italian soil, leading them back to strategies commonly adopted by the Atlantic Alliance and not for use not agreed by the United States ”

US Bases in Italy

Camp Ederle, in Vicenza, is home to the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the United States Army Africa (Usaraf). In Sigonella, the main base for American operations in the Mediterranean, are hosted, among other things, the MQ-9 ‘Reaper’ drones like the one used to kill Soleimani, unmanned aircraft like Hale (High Altitude Long Endurance) and Male (Medium Altitude) Long Endurance), Global Hawk for strategic surveillance at high altitudes, aircraft suppliers and transport aircraft. Aviano is also scattered throughout Italy, where F-16 fighters are stationed and B-61 nuclear bombs are stored; the Naval Support Activity of Naples, home of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet; the base of Camp Darby (Pisa), one of the most important logistic bases of the American Armed Forces outside the USA and houses millions of ammunition and bombs / bombs of various types.

The use of the bases is regulated by bilateral agreements with the United States that can also use them in the event of a conflict with the authorization of the Italian government. But many ask for clarity about the American operations that pass through the peninsula.

In November of last year NATO’s first unmanned aircraft arrived at the alliance base in southern Italy, where reconnaissance missions are expected to begin next year.

The first of five Alliance Ground Surveillance drones arrived at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily after completing a 22-hour test flight from Palmdale, Calif., a statement said.

The RQ-4D aircraft, ordered in 2012, are based on the Air Force’s Global Hawk Block 40 high-altitude and long endurance drone, but modified to NATO specifications.

“This demonstrates that NATO Allies are committed to modernizing the Alliance and investing to deliver key cutting-edge capabilities to the benefit of our shared security,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

Il Fatto Quotidiano / Stars and Stripes / Il Sicilia