From 21 to 23 March, the Commander of the Joint Operations Command, General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, paid a new visit to Iraq, the second in less than a year after the mission that witnessed the handover to Italy of the NATO Mission in Iraq (NMI) Command. The visit offered an important opportunity to reaffirm that cooperation with Iraq in the security and defence sectors is solid, both bilaterally and through Italian participation in the NMI and in the Anti-Daesh Coalition, as well as to highlight the decisive role of the Italian Armed Forces in the fight against international terrorism.
Welcomed by the Ambassador of Italy to Iraq, Maurizio Greganti, and by the NMI Commander, General Giovanni Maria Iannucci, the JOC Commander met in Baghdad Iraq’s leading military authorities, including the Chief of Defence, Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, the Deputy Commander of the Joint Operations Centre Iraq (JOC-I), Gen. Qais Al-Muhammadawi, and the Commander of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service, Gen. Abdul Wahab Al-Saedi. In Kurdistan, Gen. Figliuolo held talks with the Vice President of the Region, Sheikh Jaafar, and with the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of the Peshmerga, Lt. General Issa Ozeir.
The JOC Commander had the occasion to meet with the personnel of the Italian Contingent in Iraq, which conducts training and military assistance activities in favour of the Iraqi and Kurdish Security Forces with the objective of achieving training self-sufficiency, maintaining pressure on Daesh and preventing any possibility of its reorganisation. Gen. Figliuolo praised their commitment, emphasising the fundamental role of our Armed Forces for dialogue, cooperation and protection of national interests in Iraq and the Middle East.
