Wherever the fight is hardest and the risk is greatest, the Supreme Command sends its most reliable soldiers:
the Parachutists
The 1980s: starting with Lebanon
The 'first time' was Lebanon, in 1982, with the mission Italcon Lebanon 2, where an organic battalion was deployed for eighteen months.
The 1st Carabinieri Parachute Battalion took over Tuscania, the 2nd Battalion Tarquinia and the 5th Battalion El Alamein as follows:
- September 1982 - March 1983, 1st Carabinieri Parachute Battalion Tuscania
- March 1983 - July 1983, 2nd Parachute Battalion Tarquinia
- July 1983 - November 1983, 5th Parachute Battalion El Alamein
- November 1983 - February 1984, 1st Carabinieri Parachute Battalion Tuscania
The battalion's main task was to garrison one of the sub-sectors into which the Italian zone in Berut had been divided, a particularly sensitive area, densely populated for the most part by Shia Muslims and within which was the refugee camp of Bori el Barajne, home to thousands of Palestinians.
The repatriation order arrives on 16 FebruaryThey neatly abandoned the positions they had held for eighteen months, and passed through a half-destroyed Beirut. This was the end of the 'Lebanon Two' mission, in the course of which our soldiers, put up against war professionals such as the American Marines or the French Paras, were able to earn international respect and admiration.
Lampedusa, no peace mission. We are one step away from war. But ready for anything.
La spring 1986 will instead be remembered as full of tension and sky-high adrenalin. Warned by the intelligence services of an impending political and military crisis between United States e Libya, the 5th Parachute Battalion and the 9th Battalion Col Moschin travel to Lampedusa and Pantelleria in record time.
A night call of the picket officer in the first week of March alert the paratroopers stationed in SienaImmediately, a first column of the "Sorci Verdi" Command and Services Company moved in the direction of the Rapolano powder magazine to pick up the front-line equipment, while the 5th Battalion headed for Grosseto Airport where it found a C-130 and a G-222 with their engines running. The ammunition arrived, all embarked, heading for Trapani, then preventive occupation of the smaller islands Pantelleria and Lampedusa given the degenerated situation with Libya, training and protection of sensitive points. The operation begins SUNFLOWER. And it was during this operation, during a period of rest for the training part, that on the night of the 14 April 1986 the USA they bomb Tripoli: a platoon of the 15 Cp. "Black Devils reinforced by an anti-tank team and a logistics wing, led by the then Parachutist Lieutenant Enrico Pollini, receives the order at 2 a.m. on 15 April 1986 to set off in full battle gear. The Paratroopers receive, still in their underwear, weapons, ammunition and equipment. Tactical flight at very low altitude on C-130s to avoid Libyan anti-aircraft, and escorted by F-104 fighters. Assault landing on Lampedusa at dawn. The paratroopers deployed, shot in the barrel, finger on the trigger. To back them up, the anti-tank support squadron armed with Milan missile launchers. In the early afternoon two roars, the earth trembles, the Americans of the Loran Base rush out to evacuate. Two missiles SS1-Scud are dropped on Lampedusa with the aim of hitting the US military installation. The Lt. Pollini who initially thinks of an attack, but sees no smoke, immediately informs the chain of command. Keep calm and cool. Hold your positions. We are Paratroopers, and in our crazy but romantic and brilliant minds, we were born for moments like these.
The official version still maintains, even today, that the arrival of the paratroopers occurred after the missiles were fired. FALSE.
Subsequently, every corner of the island was garrisoned with the deployment of the entire Parachute Brigade, with the 2nd Battalion 'Tarquinia' and the 1st Carabinieri Parachute Battalion 'Tuscania' in the front line together with the 5th Battalion 'El Alamein'.
Should the situation degenerate, a counter-attack was planned to be carried out together with the US 1st S-SFOD (the infamous Delta Force). On the Italian side, this would have seen the incursors of the 9th Btg. Col Moschin infiltrate into Libya with a small advanced nucleus, followed by an airdrop by the 5th Parachute Battalion. However, the diplomatic line and naval operations prevailed. But even in this case, without fear and without fear, and above all, in record time, the Folgore proved itself ready for real war action.
A few years later it was back to the Middle East. This time in Iraqi Kurdstan with Operation Heron.
The 1990s, intense and non-stop. The Folgore immediately in Iraqi Kurdistan.
It is the 1991 and we are in the middle of the Gulf War.
In the month of April Italian participation in the mission begins Heron with the dropping of relief supplies, operations carried out by the Air Force and the Airmen of the Bigata Paracadutisti Folgore.
The 16 May The entire contingent is fully operational in its components: the Folgore deploys almost 1,000 men, including raiders from the Col Moschin, paratroopers from the Tuscania and paratroopers from the 2nd and 5th Battalions.
The paratroopers set up 646 tents for the refugees, the health department carried out health screening on 4,700 refugees and provided medical care to 600 individuals.
AIRONE is assigned a security sector of responsibility in which incursors, paratroopers and parachutists for three months will carry out the tasks assigned by the UN with a high level of capability and competence, guaranteeing with patrols, checkpoints and belts the control of a territory up to 1,400 km wide and the entire Zakho-Kirkuk-Baghdad route.
The Brigade is deployed in difficult environmental conditions, thousands of kilometres away from the Motherland, and at first they organise camps and provide aid and security to people fleeing the war, while later they are deployed in front of Iraqi forces, pushed northwards by allied pressure.
Our paratroopers display, in unanimous and international recognition, great professionalism and an enormous spirit of sacrifice: all Italian military personnel taking part in the AIRONE mission will be awarded the Commemorative Cross by the Ministry of Defence, the Certificate of Merit from the Army General Staff, signed by General Goffredo Canino, Chief of Staff of the Army, and the Certificate of Appreciation, signed by General John Shalikashvili and General Mario Buscemi.
It was possible to secure a belt that created the security framework that was crucial for the return of the refugees.
Sicilian Vespers: Paratroopers for Italy
Not even time to return, resume training activities and deploy to Sicily in theOperation Sicilian Vespers.
It is 25 July 1992. 300 Paratroopers of the Brigata Folgore land at 4pm at Punta Raisi airport in Palermo, with weapons and luggage. Others will arrive in the evening.
This is not a trip or a prize trip, it is a military operation, with military paratroopers equipped and armed with weapons of war, on Italian soil.
A few hours after the city's main key points are under the control of the amaranth berets, the operation officially begins Sicilian Vespers. It is the response of the state hit hard by the deaths of the two famous magistrates, Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone.
1,000 are the Paratroopers of the Brigata Folgore deployed in the city of Palermo.
Belts, night ambushes, mobile checkpoints, surveillance of prominent personalities, and constant cooperation with law enforcement agencies are ensured by the sacrifice of the Paratroopers undergoing heavy and continuous shifts, demonstrating an uncommon sense of duty that will be applauded by an entire nation.
December 1992: Operation 'IBIS' is triggered
We are at 3 December 1992. The regiments are still in Sicily. A 'forced' rotation will be necessary: the Folgore is expected at an appointment it cannot miss. This is not a 'normal' peace mission. But of the operation IBIS in Somalia. The UN has issued resolution number 794 and Italy, together with the United States, is to provide the largest military contingent.
The Folgore has command of the Italian contingent, and is the only one, together with the USA, authorised to use Chapter VII of the UN Charter: the one that authorises the use of weapons. All the units are deployed, 183rd Regiment Nembo, 186° e 187th Folgore, 185th Artillery, 1st Tuscania Battalion, 9TH Col Moschin and Logistics Departments.
An unprecedented deployment of forces. Italy could do no wrong: and the Folgore, although hit straight to the heart in the clashes of 2 July 1993, came out holding high Italian military honour.
For more information on Somalia at this link.
In the mid-1990s there are several interventions in the war zone of the Col Moschin, first in Yemen, then in Rwanda. Interventions necessary to exfiltrate the Italian personnel remaining in those war-torn nations.
Operation 'Hippocampus': a special forces commitment
In Rwanda, inoperation Hippocampus, the raiders of the Col Moschin will take part in one of the riskiest and most difficult operations ever.
The 10 May, After landing first in Nairobi and later in Kigali, the Italian incursors, while landing the C-130, came under mortar fire on the airport runway. The military aircraft quickly pulled away from the runway, leaving the Italian forces on Rwandan soil.
At that time, finding themselves isolated and with no possibility of obtaining military transport (despite requests made to other contingents), the special forces detachment opted to requisition civilian vehicles at the airport.
After modifying them to suit their needs by removing the doors, they headed for areas where there were still civilians to be rescued, moving against a tragic backdrop of frequent gunfire in every street corner and mortar fire.
Within a week, thanks to numerous missions to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, the raiders successfully completed the evacuation of all the Italians, a feat made possible by the valour and preparedness of the 46th Airborne Brigade: during the take-off of the last C-130, loaded beyond all expectations, a heavy attack by Soviet ZU-23 anti-aircraft machine guns occurred. According to Brig-Gen Roberto Vannacci, then Commander of the Rwanda operation, it was one of the most difficult operations, if not the most difficult, in which the 9th Regiment took part.
A mission that will cost theraider Sgt. Maj. Marco Di Sarra, who fell ill with malaria in Rwanda and lost his life to the disease shortly after returning to Italy.
The Balkan era begins
The Balkan crisis will again see 'conventional' parachute regiments deployed: in the 1996 the 187th Regiment is in Bosnia for Operation SFOR, not even time to return to March 1997, the following month participates in the mission Sunrise (with rates of the 183rd and 186th).
It is the first form of multinational intervention led by Italy.
It is an operation that officially serves to enable the distribution of humanitarian aid, but in reality to prevent civil war by enabling the Albanian political crisis to be resolved.
Two years later, from April at October 1999, Paratrooper General Pierluigi Torelli, will command the Multinational Brigade North in Bosnia in Operation Constant Forge deploying the 187th and 186th Regiments in the operation Constant Forge.
The Balkan area will continue with missoine for the next decade until the end of the 2004.
On 9 July 2004, UN Resolution 1551 authorised the continuation of SFOR for a further six months and accepted NATO's decision to conclude SFOR by the end of 2004. It will be the EU's turn to launch a mission in Bosnia from December 2004, including a military component.
A detour to South-East Asia: Operation 'Interfet'
At the same time that the 186th is still in Bosnia, from September 1999 until January 2000, the Parachutists of the 187th will be deployed to faraway East Timor together with the Tuscania Parachutists and the Col Moschin raiders.
Located in the far south-east of Asia, and reachable after more than 24 hours (!) of scheduled flights, East Timer is for Italians the destination of theoperation Interfet, made necessary after the violent actions of groups not in favour of East Timor's independence from Indonesia.
This violence then prompted the UN, through Resolution 1264 of 15 September 1999, to authorise the establishment of an Australian-led multinational force.
The tactical group of the Folgore had an important task, that of patrolling and providing security for the population in the most difficult and hard-to-reach areas due to the dense vegetation.
Moving with VM vehicles and Cagiva motorbikes, the Italian paratroopers managed, as was their wont, to fulfil their assigned tasks very well.
The one in East Timor will also be remembered as the farthest mission where an Italian unit was deployed.
New millennium: back to the Balkans
The new millennium begins with a return to the Balkans. a June 2000 the entire 186th Regiment is deployed to Albania. It sounds like a 'simple and boring' mission, but in reality the Parachutists have an important task: that of reorganising the reborn Albanian Army.
Albanian soldiers are trained at the URE base, and long-range reconnaissance operations are also carried out in hard-to-reach areas. A job previously exclusive to special forces.
The task of these 'missions within a mission' was to reconnoitre new routes by assessing their viability and to secretly photograph, as far as possible, the state of military barracks in order to assess their degree of reconstruction.
Doing things excellently is a habit for the Folgore, a duty. But there are those who are still amazed: General Amilcare Casalotto, commander of the Multinational Brigade West, is so impressed by the work of the paratroopers that he rebuilds his personal escort: from August 2000 no longer the Carabineri, but the Parachute Fusiliers of the 5th El Alamein Battalion, part of the 186th Regiment, will take care of his security.
For these ten young men, Lieutenant Colonel Parachutist Massimo Mingiardi's mission will continue for another six months with respect to the regiment's four.
The deployment cycle in the Balkans continues, where the 185th Regiment will also be deployed several times in support of units outside the Brigade.
G8 in Genoa 2001: a very important event in Italy
The summer of 2001 is the G8, an international meeting of the most important heads of state on earth.
The FOLGORE is deployed in the red zone of the Genoa airport. Parachutists from the three manoeuvre regiments (183rd, 186th and 187th) act as Public Safety Officers inside the Genoa airport for three days.
They control, stop and search anyone who enters or moves around the airport. They guard the hangars and sensitive points with rules of engagement that are not very reassuring for anyone in the mood to be a hero: unconditional fire to anyone who wants to enter the airport without authorisation or who even approaches the fence, even outside.
The Col Moschin and the 185th RAO will observe, armed with rifles and day and night sights, everything that moves around the same airfield.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, while boarding his plane at the end of the event, will make an unscheduled visit: he will get out of the car and shake hands with a dozen paratroopers, congratulating them.
To the Parachutists, on the day 20 July a very important task: guarding the perimeter of US President George W. Bush's Air Force One.
11 September 2001: changing the world. The Folgore is ready.
Past the G8 and thesummer 2001 came the event that shocked the entire world: the attack on the twin towers the11 September 2001 in the United States.
From that day on, the Parachute Brigade, with all its regiments, will see a virtually non-stop cycle of deployment. The incursors of the Col Moschin will be the first Italians to arrive in Afghanistan in December 2001. For long months, they performed exclusively infiltration duties in special recoil and long-range reconnaissance patrols, giving and receiving support to the British SAS and the US Delta Force.
Basic Weapon Regiments will continue to be deployed in Kosovo, a new destination for Islamic terrorists to escape international warrants of capture. Kosovo being an unstable area was, and still is, frequented by characters seeking anonymity.
It was on one of these missions, in January 2002, an operation led by Paratrooper Major Aldo Zizzo with the Paratroopers of the Fifth El Alamein Battalion saw the capture of dangerous fugitives wanted by the Americans for the bombing of the US ship in Yemen a few years earlier.
It is an operation conducted with masterly operational efficiency. The Americans who come to the Djacovica Task Force Falco, home of the 186th Regiment in Kosovo in 2001-2002, will be astonished and pleasantly surprised, applauding, for the umpteenth time, what the Italian Paratroopers did.
Iraq and Afghanistan: two treacherous territories
In the following years, the 9th Col Moschin Regiment and the 185th (which in the meantime changed its name and was incorporated into the Special Operations Forces) concentrated their efforts in the Middle East, mainly between Afghanistan and Iraq. And it was precisely in Iraq, during Operation Ancient Babylon, that these two units became involved in several conflicts.
Ad April 2004 a detachment of the Col Moschin, on the outskirts of Nassirya, is ambushed by L.
A little luck, and a very high combat ability in tight spaces allows the raiders to save their skins and neutralise all the militia (about ten).
The Col Moschin will carry out special operations at the highest level in Iraq, as well as escorting important people, politicians in particular.
The Middle East is the most challenging scenario, but there is still glory for the Folgore in the Balkans: in March 2004, the 186th Regiment, in yet another mission in Kosovo (the third in three years!) called Determined Effort, will be of fundamental help to the ethnic Serbian population.
The unit will be forced to intervene to defend monasteries and protect villages during the riots of 17 and 18 March. The paratroopers, not at all intimidated by the violent attitude of the rioters, will be forced to respond with arms to the repeated assaults.
For the splendour of those days, the regiment's flag was again decorated with a silver medal, as was the case in Somalia.
In the same year, the 187th Regiment was deployed to Afghanistan in theoperation Kite 2. The Livorno regiment will carry out first-rate operations. The paratroopers, deployed in Khowst, have the task of neutralising and destroying the pockets of terrorism still present in Afghanistan, possible logistical bases and recruitment centres. The unit will perform all the tasks assigned to it in an exemplary manner, receiving praise from all the international forces involved in Enduring Freedom.
As mentioned, intense operating cycle... in thesummer 2005, the 183rd Parachute Regiment Nembo will be deployed in Sudan in Operation Nile.
The task of the Pistoia Paratroopers, framed in Task Force Leone, is to enforce the peace treaty signed on 9 January by Sudanese President Omar el Bashir and John Garang, commander of the largest independence movement, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, Spla, which ended the 20-year war for control of the country's southern regions.
This is not an easy task, not least because you are in a peacekeeping operation commanded by the UN, with very precise rules of engagement, which will present delicate and difficult operational situations in a climate of war. But it is precisely this difficulty that will be an extra motivation for the Paratroopers: the work carried out by Task Force Leone will be an extraordinary success and the Italian work will be applauded by the UN itself.
Task Force 45 is born
In June 2006 the legendary Task Force 45, the largest deployment of special forces ever deployed by Italy since the post-war period.
By July of the same year, he was already operating in the Afghan mountains participating in the infamous Operation 'Jellyfish'.
It is initially made up of incursors from the 9th Assault Regiment 'Col Moschin' and the GOI, Gruppo Operativo Incursori della Marina Militare (COMSUBIN).
It will later expand its staff with the kissing units ditch of the Italian Army and other special forces units of all armed forces.
First commander will be the Lt-Col. Col. Roberto Vannacci.
Back to Lebanon
A change of front, we are at the beginning of the 2007. The 186th Regiment will be deployed in Lebanon. It is an old acquaintance for the Siena Parachutists. Lebanon was in fact the first foreign theatre of operations for the Italian Army and the Parachutists of this Regiment took part in that very first mission for four long months.
Although much time has passed, the situation does not seem to have changed: the scenario is one of total devastation, the frictions the same as 25 years before.
The operation Leontes is an extremely difficult task for the paratroopers: they must ensure that the Lebanese operation area for the disarming of the Hezbollah is not used for offensive activities. Intense patrols, escorts and the protection of sensitive sites will be the main tasks of the amaranth berets who will go out, as always and for the umpteenth time, to applause.
2008, Operation 'Safe Streets' begins
The 2008 will instead be punctuated by an intense training cycle: in the new year, the entire Parachute Brigade will be deployed to Afghanistan. There is still time to spend three months in Campania for theoperation Safe roads.
Operation Strade Sicure, extended several times over the years with deployment in various parts of Italy, consisting of the use of Italian armed forces personnel in the fight against crime.
It makes Italian armed forces personnel available to the prefects of certain provinces for the protection of public order, combating petty crime and the surveillance of sites and targets deemed sensitive, giving these personnel the status of public security officer with the extension of the faculties provided for in Article 4 of Law No 152 of 22 May 1975, as well as patrols and patrols in conjunction and jointly with the police forces in order to increase deterrence against petty crime, and for surveillance services at 'sensitive' sites and targets, as well as to carry out territorial control operations in metropolitan or otherwise densely populated areas.
The planning and coordination of the operation was entrusted to the Inter-Agency Summit Operations Command (COVI).
2009-2011, when the going gets tough the tough get going
The Afghanistan is a difficult, complex job. Important tasks that only the best know how to perform properly. Sixteen years have passed since Somalia, and again, as then, the entire Brigade finds itself deployed in the theatre of operations. The ISAF operation begins (to be exact in 2009 we are at ISAF XII).
The establishment of the brigade, with the three battalions of the manoeuvre regiments deployed in the front line and the high level of preparation of the troops, at an all-time high, will yield unprecedented results in the fight against the Taliban.
Base El Alamein (Farah), base Tarquinia (Shouz) and base Tobruk (Bala Boluk) will represent three crucial points that will be of paramount importance in the success of the mission.
The three regiments, deployed between Herat, Kabul and Farah will deal a heavy blow to the Taliban and in the numerous firefights, the fundamentalist militia will be forced to strongly moderate their fighting ardour. The bacion fos (185th) and fs (9th) units will carry out special operations at full range in tandem with the three above-mentioned units.
The work of the 8th Parachute Guerrilla Regiment, which will provide support to all departments with continuity and efficiency, is also excellent.
First the killing of Parachutist 1st Corporal Alessandro Di Lisio, then theKabul attack on 17 September 2009, will be the infamous viagliaccatas of those who do not have the courage, through manifest inability to fight, to face the enemy face to face.
The Folgore in Afghanistan went deep, gave security and hope to populations overwhelmed by the terrorist mentality.
Once again, the Folgore, wounded and struck to the heart, completed its mission. In 2011, it was back again in Afghanistan (ISAF XVI) and the music did not change: a complex operation, but the Folgore came out with its head held high, even if it counted casualties and wounded.
2013, back to Somalia
Somalia has a special flavour, ask the Paratroopers, those of the 186th in particular.
Headed by Paratrooper General Massimo Mingiardi, who has been appointed as the new commander of the EU mission for the training of military personnel in Somalia (EUTM), we return to the Horn of Africa 30 years after theIBIS operation.
Launched in the spring of 2010, the EUTM Somalia mission contributes to the training of 3,600 Somali military personnel, focusing in particular on the preparation of officers, specialists and instructors, and is part of the EU's initiatives to contribute to the stability of the country still affected by the war in which the government in Mogadishu, flanked by African Union troops, opposes the Qaedist Shabab militias.
Italian militiamen, mostly paratroopers and raiders, take part in the mission with instruction and instructor protection duties, the latter task being performed by a platoon of the 186th Parachute Regiment.
2015, operation 'first parthica', Iraqi Kurdistan
The 187th flies to Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, an old acquaintance of the Paratroopers from the 1991 Heron mission
Livorno Paratroopers, part of Task Force 'Praesidium', are responsible for protecting the Mosul dam
Task Force Praesidium, as part of Operation "Inherent Resolve - Prima Parthica"., is the Italian Armed Forces unit in charge of protecting the Mosul dam in coordination with the local security forces. In addition to ensuring the defence of the dam, the Task Force "Praesidium" will have to guarantee the safety of American military and civilian personnel and of the workers of the Italian company TREVI engaged in the rehabilitation work on the infrastructure. The paratroopers of the 187th would participate several times in the following years, until the 2019, to theoperation Prima Parthica
2016, we go to Libya to defend the medical mission
With only a few weeks' notice to September 2016 Parachutists of the 186th Regiment fly to Libya for theOperation Hippocrates.
The task of the Siena Paratroopers is more than noble: to protect the Italian contingent engaged in the medical mission in Misurata.
A contingent consisting of 65 medics and paramedics, 135 logistics personnel, an organic company of Paratroopers for the so-called 'defence force' of the 186th Par. Folgore Regiment and a specalistic set-up of the 8th Parachute Guerrilla Regiment. The base of the operation is the former Libyan Air Force Academy, where there is already an advanced nucleus of incursors from the 9th Regiment that paved the way for the operation.
The decade between Niger and Mali comes to an end
The 186th Regiment, 187th Regiment, l'8th Parachute Guerrilla Regiment and the Parachute Training Centre will be in Niger for theoperation MISIN, between the end of the decade and the following years (2018 to 2021), for intensive training of the Niger Army, including two highly specialised courses: the 1st Airborne Course and the 4th C-IED Awareness Course.
In particular, the 1st C-IED Awareness Course enabled Niger paratroopers to learn the techniques necessary for the preparation of light loads of various kinds to be airdropped for the benefit of troops on the ground or in aid of the civilian population. The 4th C-IED Awareness Course, on the other hand, provided the basic knowledge for the implementation of procedures to search for and report the discovery of concealed ordnance.
The manoeuvre units, 186 and 187, will instead train the Niger paratroopers to conduct specific tactical attack and defence actions in the various operational environments. The 187th will also be present with a small contingent in Mali with support and assistance tasks.
2021, Afghanistan goodbye or farewell?
Back again to Afghanistan, to Herat in 2021 for theOperation Resolute Support with the 186th and 187th Rgt.
The new NATO-led 'Resolute Support' mission focuses on training, advising and assisting the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and Afghan institutions. It is therefore, unlike ISAF, 'no combat'.
Several courses, mainly based on the train-the-trainer principle, were conducted, with a total of around three hundred military and police officers trained, on subjects such as counter IED, intelligence, map reading and self defence.
In addition to this, various meetings were organised (shure) on topics relating to security, logistics and the efficiency of the Afghan departments, which made it possible to improve and make the work of the local defence institutions and apparatus more credible and effective.
The transition from ISAF to RS was not just a change of name. It was supposed to be a point of arrival after 13 years of effort, culminating in the creation of a rule of law, credible and transparent institutions, and above all, autonomous and well-equipped Security Forces, capable of independently taking on the task of guaranteeing the security of the country. Unfortunately, the facts tell us otherwise. Resolute Support ends at June 2021.
Ad August Afghanistan is once again in the hands of the Taliban. We are talking about one of the greatest failures in Western foreign policy.
Afghanistan was one of the greatest failures in Western foreign policy. The sacrifice of 3,612 fallen soldiers did nothing to save the country from Islamic extremism.
2023, Leontes XXIII, back in Lebanon
With theOperation Leontes XXXIII, the Folgore Parachute Brigade completes its third tour of duty in South Lebanon since the start of the UN Peacekeeping Mission, where it has deployed practically every unit since 2006 e ce reflects the terms of Resolution 1701 and assigns the Blue Helmets the precise task of monitoring the cessation of hostilities, assisting local institutions in the exercise of sovereignty, in particular the Lebanese Armed Forces, and supporting the civilian population.
As of February 2023, the Folgore formed the backbone of a multinational device structured around five Task Forces, respectively of Ghanaian (Ghanbatt), Malaysian (Malbatt), Italian (Italbatt), South Korean (Rokbatt) and Irish nationality, the latter co-powered with Poland (IrishPolbatt).
The story continues.