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Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti has ruled out military intervention in Libya: Photo: Armend Nimani/AFP

Italian military action in Libya is unthinkable: Pinotti

Published: 25 Feb 2016 11:51 GMT+01:00

Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said on Thursday that Italian military intervention in Libya is “unthinkable”.

Italy will let US armed drones fly from Sicilian base (23 Feb 16)

Her comments came a few days after Italy agreed that US forces can use an airbase in Sicily to launch drone strikes against Isis targets in the north African country on a case-by-case basis.

In an interview with Mediaset television, Pinotti insisted that Libya can only be stabilized by the intervention of local forces, although she added that stabilization “was hard to imagine without speaking to the Libyans themselves”.

Pinotti said on Tuesday that any strikes launched from the Sigonella base in Sicily would be limited to operations required to protect US and allied personnel and assets involved in combatting Isis in Libya and elsewhere.

Each strike would also be subject to an individual authorisation request to the Italian government and they would only be used as a "last resort".

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