Italy is
suffering after slapping an arms embargo on the UAE earlier this year as the
Arab nation has decided to suspend military cocorperaton with the country and
evict the Italian aircraft and other personnels from one of the major military
bases in the nation.
The military base
was an extremely important breakthrough for Italy to enter into the middle east
for the decisions taken in January, the country is now suffering to regain the
trust of the UAE. An Italian politician has confirmed that the country is
preparing to withdraw military operators after the UAE gave them an ultimatum.
With the thing
proceeding between the two countries, it has been brought into notice that it
is the European country that has more to lose and not the UAE even with an arms
embargo on itself. Italy has not only lost military cooperation but economic
activities are also due to be affected with this.
Italy has been
given time till July 2 to leave the Al Minhad air base in the UAE, confirmed
the Italian parliamentary Matteo Perego Di Cremnago. While talking to a new
outlet, the parliamentarian said, “The pull-out has already started and while
work is underway by Italy to secure a last-minute cancellation of the eviction,
I doubt it will succeed.”
He also talked
about how difficult it is to get back on good terms with the Gulf countries
once the relationship has become sour. Cremnago stressed that it is very
difficult to break into the Gulf region. After his statement, the former
Italian air force chief General Leonardo Tricarico confirmed that the last
Italian aircraft left the UAE base on Thursday.
The Italian
Ministry has denied speaking about the issue but the former chief said that the
Gulf nation has also denied the use of its airspace to Italian military
aircraft.
The base, which
has been evicted by Italy, has been very crucial since the country negan using
it in 2015. Al Minhad air base has aircraft from nations all around the world
but for Italy, it has been helpful to mount fights over Iraq and other conflict
prone areas.
With the
eviction, Italy’s attempt to pull out from Afghanistan has also become an
uphill task. It cannot rule out the possibility that danger is still lingering
in Afghanistan and without any check, it cannot be radical enough to continue
troop pullout from Afghanistan. Other than that, the Italian defense ministry
has also been using the air base for quick reach for the operations in the Horn
of Africa and the Indian Ocean but with this, the trade and job opportunities
will be greatly impacted.
Cremngo was extremely disappointed at the call of the
government in regards with the UAE saying that Italy will now have to bear the
cost and will have to take responsibility for a huge geo-strategic loss. Italy
had invested a lot in the base and hoped to expand its presence there,” he
added.
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