Italian participation in the military operations in Iraq was concluded by the end of 2006, with full withdrawal of Italian military personnel except for a small group of about 30 soldiers engaged in providing security for the Italian embassy in Baghdad. Subsequently, Italian troops arrived in the late summer of 2003, and began patrolling Nasiriyah and the surrounding area. The Italian Army did not take part in combat operations of the 2003 Iraq War, dispatching troops only when major combat operations were declared over by the U.S. Italian forces also command a multinational engineer task force and have deployed a platoon of Carabinieri military police. Italy has sent 3,800 troops, including one infantry company from the 2nd Alpini Regiment tasked to protect the ISAF HQ, one engineer company, one NBC platoon, one logistic unit, as well as liaison and staff elements integrated into the operation chain of command. Italian forces have contributed to ISAF, the NATO force in Afghanistan, and to the Provincial reconstruction team. Italy also participated in the 1990–91 Gulf War, with the deployment of eight Panavia Tornado IDS bomber jets Italian Army troops were subsequently deployed to assist Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq following the conflict.Īs part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Italy contributed to the international operation in Afghanistan. Italy did take part in the 1982 Multinational Force in Lebanon along with US, French and British troops. Italy has joined in many UN, NATO and EU operations as well as with assistance to Russia and the other CIS nations, Middle East peace process, peacekeeping, and combating the illegal drug trade, human trafficking, piracy and terrorism. Italian soldiers of the Mechanized Brigade "Sassari" in Afghanistan in 2012 At the Sea Islands Conference of the G8 in 2004, the Carabinieri were given the mandate to establish a Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units ( CoESPU) to spearhead the development of training and doctrinal standards for civilian police units attached to international peacekeeping missions. Primarily they carry out law enforcement, military policing duties and peacekeeping mission abroad, such as Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In recent years Carabinieri became the fourth branch of Italian Armed Forces.
The Italian unification saw the number of divisions increased, and in 1861 the Carabinieri were appointed the "First Force" of the new national military organization. The divisions were further divided into companies and subdivided into lieutenancies, which commanded and coordinated the local police stations and were distributed throughout the national territory in direct contact with the public. The new force was divided into divisions on the scale of one division for each province of Italy. The corps was instituted in 1814 by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy with the aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps it is therefore older than Italy itself. The Arma dei Carabinieri is the gendarmerie and military police of Italy. According to article 78, the Parliament has the authority to declare a state of war and vest the necessary powers in the Government. The President of the Italian Republic heads the armed forces as the President of the High Council of Defence established by article 87 of the Constitution of Italy. These five forces have military status and are all organized along military lines, comprising a total of 341,250 men and women with the official status of active military personnel, of which 165,500 are in the Army, Navy and Air Force. Despite not being a branch of the armed forces, the Guardia di Finanza is part of the military and operates a large fleet of ships, aircraft and helicopters, enabling it to patrol Italy's waters and to eventually participate in warfare scenarios. A fourth branch of the armed forces, known as the Carabinieri, take on the role as the nation's military police and are also involved in missions and operations abroad as a combat force. The Italian Armed Forces ( Italian: Forze armate italiane) encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. Coat of arms of the Italian Defence Staff