Italy minister rejects opposition criticism of Saudi troop deployment

ROME, July 31 (Reuters) – Italy’s defense minister on Friday rejected opposition criticism over the deployment of troops and military assets to the Gulf region, saying the mission’s framework had been fully disclosed to parliament.

According to the defense ministry’s website, around 400 Italian air force personnel have been deployed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain since March, after Tehran had targeted those nations in the wake of U.S and Israeli strikes on Iran.

The contingent includes four Eurofighter jets tasked with helping defend assigned airspace, but the ministry has not disclosed full operational details.

Lawmakers from the centre-left Democratic Party accused the government of failing to seek parliamentary authorisation for the mission, saying Saudi Arabia was outside the scope of a mandate approved for overseas military assignments.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, dismissed the criticism, saying the mission’s “legal and operational framework” had been presented “with the utmost transparency”.

“The information was already public and available. In fact, it took only a journalist consulting the Defence Ministry’s website to accurately reconstruct what some opposition representatives claim not to know,” he said in a statement.

The scale of Italy’s military presence in the Gulf was highlighted this week by daily Il Giornale, which claimed that up to 700 soldiers had been dispatched to the area.

Meloni’s government voiced support for Gulf allies after they came under Iranian retaliatory attacks following the U.S. and Israeli assault, saying partner countries in the region had requested air-defence and counter-drone support.

The defense ministry’s website lists air-defence radars and a counter-drone system among the assets deployed. However, it makes no mention of a Franco-Italian SAMP/T air-defence system that Il Giornale reported had also been sent to Saudi Arabia.

SAMP/T units have been transferred to Ukraine in recent years and has also been exported to Singapore. Earlier this year, France delivered one to the United Arab Emirates to strengthen its defences against Iranian missile attacks.

Meloni visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in April, becoming the first European leader to travel to the Gulf following the outbreak of the conflict.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Crispian Balmer)