"We must be optimistic, but we must prepare for every possible eventuality." These were the words of Defense Minister Guido Crosetto regarding the international situation today in Sassari , on the sidelines of the ceremony in Piazza d'Italia where the Silver Medal for Army Valor was awarded to the war flag of the "Sassari" Logistics Regiment.
"It's a challenge that changes every day," he says, "because technology changes. Every time something happens in the world, we tell ourselves to prepare, not because we think it might happen, but because it's our duty to defend ourselves from any crisis that might arise."
The cyber threats of disinformation and manipulation are real, however. "They are ongoing, and not just from Russia , using methods that weaken the adversary without waging actual war. We've been enduring all this for years; I've even written to my European and political colleagues about this issue. We need to think about reacting, not just being subjected."
Finally, a round of applause goes to the Sassari Brigade , whose return from Lebanon was welcomed today, where it spent five months serving as part of the UNIFIL mission, the United Nations Force deployed in southern Lebanon, bordering Israel. "No one knows how to react better under pressure than they do," said the minister, who, in his speech, emphasized the Dimonios' value in contributing to peace in the Middle East.
General Luciano Portolano
"Crises are no longer confined to where they arise. Contributing to the stability of our neighborhood means protecting the national interest," declared the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Luciano Portolano .
This recognition recognizes the Dimonios' commitment to the UNIFIL mission, which the senior military official emphasized when referring to the 10,000 km-long crisis arc, "at whose geographic and strategic center lies Italy," stretching from NATO's eastern flank to the Middle East, from the Red Sea to the Sahel, and all the way to the Gulf of Guinea.
However, threats cross those borders and take on different forms: from airspace violations to drone strikes, from attacks on critical infrastructure, to cyber operations, spiced up with disinformation and manipulation .
"Different actions, but with a single purpose: to generate fear, mistrust, polarization, and disorientation, and to erode the cohesion of our societies from within." For Portolano, we must avoid alarmism but "read the signs early, strengthen our resilience, and contain, together with our allies, crises wherever they arise." The mission in Lebanon falls within this complex framework, and the general, former UNIFIL commander and Head of Mission, reflected on the limits of the commitment the country has been carrying out since 1978.
"It wasn't the clear and adequate mandate, but rather the rules of engagement that reduced the peacekeeping force's effectiveness," he states, and then asks: "Let's try to imagine what South Lebanon would have been like without the Blue Helmets, and what it could become tomorrow without adequate international support." The work of the Leonte XXXIX contingent has increased Italy's credibility: "An acknowledgement I continually receive in international forums."
Portolano, former 40th Commander of the “Sassari”, also paid homage to the Fallen, greeting the families of Corporal Major Gianmarco Manca, fallen in Afghanistan, and Corporal Major Alessandro Pibiri, fallen in Iraq: «I will never be able to forget the anguish of those moments, in which as Commander I had to communicate in person that one of their loved ones would never return home» .