Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announced on Wednesday that his government was assessing the participation of 500 Italian soldiers in the EU’s Operation ‘IRINI’ to monitor the UN arms embargo on Libya.
“We are currently working on an assessment of the participation of a unit including about 500 personnel, a ship and three aircraft,” Di Maio said in a statement, pointing out that the issue “will, of course, be subject to a vote in both chambers of Parliament.”
On Tuesday, the High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy in the European Union, Josep Borrell, said that the ‘IRINI’ mission does not favor any particular party in the conflict and confirmed that he recently spoke with Libyan officials to “make them understand that ‘IRINI’ would target any violators”.