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ROME — Italy's defense chief says 2,500 soldiers will be deployed to some Italian cities to help fight crime. Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said Friday the soldiers will back up police. After six months, the deployment will be evaluated. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government is waging a security crackdown to improve safety. Some soldiers will go to Naples, where they will guard plants processing mountains of garbage. Neapolitans have taken to burning garbage in the streets to protest uncollected trash. It is not clear which other cities will receive soldiers.

Iran, Iraq and other hot spots topped discussions between U.S. President George Bush and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Thursday in Rome. "We did have a wideranging discussion," Bush said during a news conference. "I appreciate very much the fact that Italy is meeting international obligations." Bush noted that U.S. citizens probably didn't realize how many Italian troops were deployed around the world, including 8,700 troops in areas such as Kosovo and Chad. "We talked about Iraq, how Iraq is changing for the better, how people are beginning to realize the blessings of a free and peaceful society," Bush said,...

Italy has about 2,700 troops in Afghanistan but has so far -- like France, Germany and Spain -- been reluctant to send them to the south and east where the Taliban are most active. This has caused tension with the NATO command and Washington. Since coming to power in May, Berlusconi's government has talked of "limited" deployment to combat zones but Bush said he went further and talked of scrapping the so-called "caveat". "I appreciate very much the fact that the government announced to the parliament with your instructions, Mr Prime Minister, that the caveats that have restricted your forces...

Iraqi National Police training with Italian Carabinieri, demonstrate anti-riot policing techniques. Anti-riot policing is one of 15 topics taught in the eight-week Carabinieri training at Camp Dublin, Iraq. Photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Erica R. Gardner. CAMP DUBLIN — Italian Maj. Gen. Alessandro Pompegnani, deputy commander, NATO Training Mission – Iraq, and Italian Col. Fabrizio Parrulli, commander of the Italian Carabinieri Team, hosted a media day focusing on Carabinieri technique training for the Iraqi National Police Dec. 5. The first eight-week training course for 450 Iraqi National Police began Oct. 27.The participants range from junior to senior...

ROME (Reuters) - Italy, which is expected to lead a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, will be unable to send troops if Israel "keeps shooting", Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said on Tuesday. "From Israel, we expect a renewed effort, this time truly binding, to respect the ceasefire," D'Alema said. "It's fair to expect that Hizbollah put down their weapons, but we cannot send our troops to Lebanon if the (Israeli) army keeps shooting."

ROME, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Italy is ready to send between 2,000 and 3,000 troops to Lebanon as part of the planned United Nations force to enforce a ceasefire, Defence Undersecretary Lorenzo Forcieri told Reuters on Saturday. Forcieri said it was "realistic" that Italy would be given vice-command of the force, which would be led by France. Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema issued a joint statement earlier on Saturday to say Italy would take part in the force, which was approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday. "We will probably be sending between 2,000 and...

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) -- Italy will redouble its efforts to help the reconstruction of Iraq even after withdrawing its troops this year, new Defense Minister Arturo Parisi said. "The withdrawal does not mean we are turning our back on the Iraqis," Parisi said Tuesday during his first visit to Italy's military contingent in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya. "Italy's commitment will proceed through strengthened political, civil and humanitarian assistance, and support for (Iraq's) institutions and the reconstruction of the country." However, Parisi said it was too early to say whether Italy would keep civilians in Iraq after its soldiers...

ROME - Italy will pull 1,100 of its troops from Iraq in June, the new government said Friday, giving its first specific numbers about the planned withdrawal. "In June we will reduce our troops from 2,700 to 1,600," Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said during an evening television show. His announcement came hours after he met with Premier Romano Prodi to map Italy's exit strategy from the U.S.-led coalition. Most Italian troops in Iraq are in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. They are involved in training, security and reconstruction. The decision to withdraw this many troops by June belongs to...

An article on L’Opinione reports (in Italian) that anti-globalization and communist groups based in Italy, among which is the infamous “anti-imperialist camp” (that collecting “Euros for the Iraqi resistance”) coordinated with Islamic terrorists in Iraq to attack our troops in Nassiryiah. The Italian intelligence heard phone conversations in which the red fundamentalists instructed the Islamists about how and when to kill our soldiers. It seems that the attack was organized in order to pressure Mr. Prodi to speed the pullout from Iraq. And of course all was coordinated by the Islamic Republic of Iran. I am sorry that I can’t...

Centre-left leader also stresses commitment to EU (ANSA) - Rome, April 12 - Centre-left leader Romano Prodi confirmed on Wednesday that his coalition intended to pull Italian troops out of Iraq by the end of 2006 and to push for a softer European line on Hamas. In a series of comments to the media on his foreign policy objectives, the former European Commission chief also confirmed that he would be more pro-Brussels and less pro-Washington than Premier Silvio Berlusconi . Much of the foreign interest in Prodi's foreign policy focused on Italy's involvement in Iraq. The country did not take...

Baghdad, 8 August (AKI) - Iraqi soldiers and police backed by Italian troops have captured an unspecified number of "terrorists" near the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, an Iraq army general announced Monday. "The Italian forces... helped the army and the police, who had surrounded the city of al-Nasr some 60 kilometres north of Nassiriya, to arrest a certain number of terrorists and people who were sheltering them," General Ali al-Harbiyya, who commands the Iraqi Army's Third Brigade, told Adnkronos International (AKI). The sweep by security force was prompted by information received from the local population, al-Harbiyya said.

GLENEAGLES, Scotland -- Italy plans to begin withdrawing some of its troops from Iraq in September, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Friday. Berlusconi, who was a strong supporter of President Bush on Iraq, sent 3,000 troops to the country after the ouster of Saddam Hussein to help rebuild the country. He had previously indicated he hoped a pullout could begin in September. "We will begin withdrawing 300 men in the month of September," Berlusconi said at the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.......................

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Al-Qaeda's Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi vowed he was still fighting alongside insurgents despite suffering light wounds, while four US troops, four Italians and one Iraqi soldier died in air crashes. Four Italian troops were killed in southern Iraq when their military helicopter crashed overnight near the city of Nasiriyah, ANSA news agency reported in Rome.

BAGHDAD, May 24 (KUNA) -- Italian Foreign Minister Franco Fini is due to visit Iraq and will hold a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zibari on Wednesday, Iraqi government Spokesman Laith Kebba announced Tuesday. Fini will also visit the estimated 3,000 Italian troops deployed in Iraq. The official spokesman told a press conference here that drawing up a constitution for the country was an internal Iraqi issue and hoped that terror acts would be eliminated to pave the way for the political process to further advance. He also shed the light on Iraq reconstruction effort saying that...

Baghdad. Italian military patrol has found more than one ton of trinitrotoluene /TNT/ in Iraq, RIA Novosti reported. The explosives were confiscated in a village, North from the town of Nasyriyah, reported the Italian TV.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Prime Minister John Howard refused to rule out sending more Australian troops to Iraq (news - web sites) after Italy's surprise decision to pull its 3,000 soldiers from the war-torn country. Australia announced last month that it would deploy an additional 450 soldiers to southern Iraq to help protect a Japanese humanitarian project and train Iraqi troops after the withdrawal of 1,400 Dutch military from the area. That decision was opposed by most Australians and Howard came under sharp questioning in parliament Wednesday over whether he would again boost the number of Australian troops in Iraq to...

Italy is to begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq in September 2005, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said. He told Rai state television the pullout would take place "in agreement with our allies". Italy has 3,000 troops in Iraq - the fourth largest foreign contingent. Domestic opposition to Italy's involvement in Iraq intensified after the killing of an Italian agent by US troops in Baghdad earlier this month. The announcement comes weeks after the Italian Senate voted to extend the country's military presence in Iraq beyond June. Mr Berlusconi has been one of US President George W Bush's staunchest...

TO BITING criticism from the Italian Opposition and the press, Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, backtracked yesterday over his announcement that Italian troops would start withdrawing from Iraq in September, claiming that this had only ever been a “hope” rather than a commitment. On Tuesday night Signor Berlusconi had caused consternation in London and Washington by declaring on state television that Italy would begin a “progressive withdrawal” of its 3,000-strong contingent from Iraq starting in September, provided local security conditions allowed this. He said that he had discussed an “exit strategy” with Tony Blair and was responding to public opinion....

BOSTON - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was honored by an Italian-American organization and praised the troops from Italy that are fighting with Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It has stood witness in Iraq and not been frightened off by a bombing," Scalia said of Italy in brief remarks Saturday. Scalia, the first Italian-American U.S. Supreme Court justice, said his son also was serving in Iraq as an infantry captain. The justice was inducted into the National Italian American Foundation's hall of fame at the group's first New England gala. The NIAF is a Washington-based nonprofit, nonpartisan group that...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr drove Italian forces from a base in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Sunday and attacked coalition headquarters there with grenade and mortar fire as tensions in the Shiite region escalated. Two U.S. soldiers died elsewhere. Gunmen also killed three Iraqi women working for the U.S.-led coalition. Two Iraqi fighters were killed and 20 were wounded in battles in Nasiriyah, mostly at two bridges crossing the Euphrates River, residents said. The Italian troops evacuated as their base came under repeated attack. Portuguese police were called out to support the Italians,...