(Picture: Soldiers from Italy’s “San Marco” Brigade while at work. The MIASIT mission’s logo can be seen on the shoulder of the soldier on the left. Source: Italian Ministry of Defence’s official website)
by Alessandro Pagano Dritto (Twitter: @paganodritto)
[September 22nd, 2018 – Italy] The “San Marco” Brigade from the Italian army has taken in charge of the Italian task force “Hyppocrates” in Misrata for the next six months, an official statement from Rome’s Defence Ministry reported last September 18th.
The shift cames few days before the MIASIT mission, which Hyppocrates is part of, supposedly expires next September 30th, so that it may be a sign Rome is going to extend the mission as it did in early 2018.
[Read about the Italian military presence in Libya reshuffled into the current MIASIT mission last December 2017]
Under Fregate Captain Fernando Cianci, already “Hyppocrates”‘ Deputy Commander, 151 foot soldiers from the Navy’s Brigade as well as 2 canine units have been deployed, the statement reveals, with the latter ones “trained with defending installations and searching for explosive devices”.
[Read about Italy training 21 Libyan units over demining on Between Libya and Italy]
The 3rd Regiment “Bersaglieri” had been in charge of the mission in Misrata since last February 13th, Brigade General Ignazio Lax being the second and latest commander of the unit since last August 27th, when he took over the command from his precedessor Colonell Gabriele Grau. According to the official statement of that shift, the Italian mission to Libya had medically treated 17.000 patients up to that very date.
[Read about the 3rd Regiment “Bersaglieri” succeeding the 9th Regiment “Alpini” in Misrata in February 2018 on Between Libya and Italy]
Some Italian local press had reported San Marco Brigade was leaving Italy for Misrata already on last July 27th, with the news of an official salute to be held in Brindisi, South Eastern Italy, on July 30th. Yet, eventually, the official statement about the deployment has come just two months later.
Local press from Fregate Captain Fernando Cianci’s town Vasto, central eastern Italy, has now noted as a curiosity Cinci’s grandfather Levino fought in Misrata as an Italian soldier back in 1942 and 1943.
In a separate development last September 13th, the Italian Rear Admiral Alberto Maffeis handed over the force command in the EUNAVFORMED EU mission to his collegue Stefano Turchetto, himself a Rear Admiral from the Italian Navy. As a third Italian Rear Admiral, Enrico Credendino, is in charge of the whole mission, the shift does not change the Italian command of it.
Between Libya And Italy 
