Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto responded to criticism from the opposition over the sending of troops to the Gulf region. Crosetto rejected the criticism, stating that the legal framework of the operation was presented to parliament with the utmost transparency.
According to the Defense Ministry's website, around 400 Italian air force personnel have been deployed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain since March, following Iran's targeting of the United States and Israel in retaliation for their attacks.
The unit includes four Eurofighter jets tasked with helping defend the assigned airspace. The Defense Ministry lists air defense radars and an anti-drone system among the deployed assets, but did not disclose all details of the operation.
Center-left Democratic Party lawmakers accused the government of acting beyond the scope of the mandate approved for overseas military missions and of failing to obtain parliamentary authorization to send troops to Saudi Arabia.
Minister Crosetto, of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, responded to the criticism saying, "The information was already public and available. In fact, a journalist only needed to consult the Defense Ministry's website to accurately reconstruct what some opposition representatives claim they didn't know."
The scale of Italy's military presence in the Gulf was raised this week by the newspaper Il Giornale. The paper claimed up to 700 troops had been sent to the region, but ministry data indicates 400 personnel. The ministry statement did not mention the French-Italian jointly produced SAMP/T air defense system that the newspaper reported was sent to Saudi Arabia.
Prime Minister Meloni's government had stated that it was supporting Gulf allies who were subjected to Iranian retaliatory attacks following the US and Israeli strikes, noting that partner countries in the region requested air defense and anti-drone support.
Meloni visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in April as the first European leader to travel to the Gulf after the outbreak of the conflict.
