The Irish newspaper “The Journal” published a report of Irish officers revealing the activities of arms smugglers in Libya.
According to the report, Irish military officers have revealed that social media posts by arms smugglers play a key role in the intelligence war against Libyan armed groups.
It added that a military base in Rome was acting as a busy control room, monitoring live feeds from satellites, aircraft, and warships off the coast of Libya.
According to “The Journal,” the diverse team managing that centre includes a small group of Irish military working on a hugely sensitive mission to halt arms smuggling to militias in Libya.
Operation IRINI is a United Nations-mandated and European Union-staffed mission aimed at bringing stability to Libya. Various nations nominate participants as part of the EU Naval Force – Ireland has three members involved at a time.
The fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011 led to a series of civil wars. In 2014, Libya split in two as rival administrations, based in the east and the west of the country battled each other for supremacy. As part of attempts to bring stability to the region, the EU and UN initiated IRINI.
That operation is based in Aeroporto Militaire Franceso Baracca – located in the densely packed residential southeastern outskirts of Rome.
The installation is an Italian air force base, with a monument of an F-104S Starfighter Cold War-era fighter jet at the entrance gate.
When “The Journal” visited recently there were four Irish Defence Forces members – led by Commander Brian Sweeney, of the Irish Naval Service.
Sweeney had just returned from a conference in Belgium, and is the senior national representative attached to Operation IRINI. He is joined by Captain Damien Kelly of the Irish Air Corps, and Chief Petty Officers Donal O’Sullivan and Gerry Foley of the Irish Navy, who was about to depart, having completed his six-month tour.
As previously reported, the team has been instrumental in one of the biggest missions targeting the smuggling of weaponry into war-torn Libya. As they seized the MV Victory ferrying armoured vehicles to the conflict.
Their work at the base is part of a broader and varied team of European military personnel, including Italian, Germans, and Czechs.