Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that in the coming weeks he will propose a bill to create a national reserve of armed forces, “like in Switzerland and Israel.”
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“Everyone is changing everything, but here in Italy they tell me that I want to take money away from kindergartens or schools. Many pretend that they don’t want to understand that without defense there will be no free education, no free trade, no democracy,” – he said answering a question about the discussion in Germany and Great Britain about conscription into the army.
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“We have no problems with numbers, but, for example, the creation of a national reserve of armed forces, as in Switzerland and Israel, is my goal, although obviously it will have to be used in very serious cases. In the coming weeks we will propose legislation on this, this one of the reforms that Italy needs,” the minister said.
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Amid overt and hybrid wars, Italy is now paying the consequences for cutting off arms supplies to the UAE and Saudi Arabia when they fought Yemen’s Houthi movement, Crosetto said.
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The ruling Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement in northern Yemen, which controls most of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, previously warned of its intention to attack any ships linked to Israel, calling on other countries to recall their crews from them and not to approach them at sea. A number of shipping companies have decided to suspend transportation through the Red Sea.
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The Houthis have previously said that their actions in the Red Sea are aimed at helping Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, they have argued that they do not interfere with freedom of navigation in the region. Arab and Muslim countries have repeatedly warned the United States that unconditional support for Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip will lead to the spread of the conflict throughout the region.
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The US and UK have been carrying out strikes on Houthi targets since mid-January, calling it a response to threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Ansar Allah’s highest political council, called the attacks a terrorist barbarity and deliberate and unjustified aggression.
