The Lybian Address site, in a pretext and with the clear intent to discredit our country, reported that the Defense Committee of the House of Representatives of Libya denounced Italian support for "terrorist and extremist gangs in Libya". The statement was triggered by the logistical support on the ground and the activity of Italian drones in Libyan airspace ".
"We warn the Italian Republic that continuing this approach in support of the militias will not leave Italy the opportunity to be part of the future of cooperation with Libya," the defense committee said today.
The Italian Ministry of Defense had stated that the drone "had understood it crashed on Libyan territory while it was on a mission for Operation Safe Sea", after being shot down by the air defense of the Libyan National Army in the city of Tarhouna.
On the Italian drone affair precipitated in Libyan territory, Khalifa Haftar's forces claim their demolition, while Italy states that the aircraft suffered from a technical problem. The drone is an MQ-9 "Predator B", one of the largest "unmanned vehicles" worth ten million dollars, belonging to the group of unmanned aircraft of the 32esimo Stormo of the Air Force, which is based at the airport of Amendola (Foggia). He was based in Sigonella, Sicily, from where he left for his "last" mission ended in Libyan territory. In particular in the area of Suq al Ahad, on the edge of Tarhuna, the enclave of Tripolitania under the control of the forces fighting alongside the strong man from Cyrenaica. Pictures of the wing of the aircraft with the tricolor cockade were taken there while it is loaded on a pick up by some militiamen haftarini.
The drone "was conducting surveillance and espionage operations against the positions of Libyan Army units in a restricted military zone as part of a hostile mission," Ali al Kani, commander of the LNA in Tarhouna, told "Nova Agency". Previously, the LNA reported that it had shot down a Turkish drone. Whether it is an Italian aircraft so there is no doubt, even the General Staff Defense has admitted it, with clenched teeth. "Today we lost contact with a remotely piloted aircraft of the AM, which subsequently crashed into Libyan territory," the statement reads. The aircraft, which carried out a mission to support the Mare Sicuro operation, followed a flight plan previously communicated to the Libyan authorities. Further investigations are underway to ascertain the causes of the event ".
It is necessary to specify. The Mare Sicuro operation, in fact, has the "anti-terrorism" component in the mandate and that of the control of the maritime routes between Libya and Italy. It is natural that the Predators of the Air Force are used, based in Sigonella to guarantee an eye from the sky. A typical mission called ISR, which stands for intelligence, surveillance and recognition. So the Libyan airspace was definitely touched and the Tripoli government was informed. The fact that there are checks is also normal administration, in any accident, whether it is an aircraft with a pilot on board or without a pilot, a commission of inquiry is prescribed to investigate the dynamics. It is not even the first time that happens for a drone: Italy has purchased 16 Predator from the United States as a whole. Two of these have precipitated over time. In the eyes of observers, the fact that the wing - exhibited as a trophy in the photos - is quite intact, makes one lean more towards failure than to the missile.
In the latter case, given the cruising speed and altitude, disintegration should be more likely. But nobody gets off balance for now. Italy is indeed present on the southern shore of the Mediterranean with the bilateral mission of assistance and support in Libya (Miasit), intended to provide assistance and support to the Government of the Libyan National Agreement and is the result of the reconfiguration, in a single device, of the activities of health and humanitarian support provided by the Hippocratic Operation and of some tasks of technical-maintenance support in favor of the Libyan Coast Guard included in the Mare Sicuro operation.
It provides for a maximum use of 400 military, 130 land vehicles and naval and air vehicles. However, it must be said that special forces cores also operate in Libyan territory under the coordination of Italian Intelligence that carry out secret operations with the assistance of drones. This does not mean that this was the case with the one that crashed, but according to informed sources, coinciding with the accident, it seems there were no boats near the Libyan coast, nor crowds of migrants in the immediate hinterland.