ROME -- Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti was quoted as saying Wednesday that Italy’s soldiers near the Iraqi city of Mosul will not come into direct confrontation with ISIS groups, insisting that there would not be any 'particular dangers' for the Italian military contingent.

 The Italian troops are in Mosul to protect the technicians from the Italian engineering company Trevi, which is contracted to work on the Mosul dam that provides water and electricity to half of Iraq. It is some 12 miles (20 km) away from fighting between western-backed Iraqi forces and ISIS jihadist militiamen in the city. 

 “The reclaiming of Mosul should be carried out with extreme care. Italian troops are not involved in this process, rather the Kurds and the Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis,” said Pinotti on Italian television Tuesday evening. The reconquering of the city “will be carried out by the Iraqi army.”

 There are also American, French and Dutch forces present in the city, amongst others, but Pinotti said that the Iraqi flag will undoubtedly be re-erected by Iraqis -- no Italian will be on the frontline for this.

 In relation to the dam, the Defence Minister said that “it is not close to the city --  it is about 30km away. There are tensions and risks, so we have planned a security deployment that will allow our soldiers and workers to stay calm.” They are also protected by Iraqi security forces.

 However, there is undeniably a high margin of risk involved in this situation. In total 1,400 Italian soldiers have been deployed to Iraq -- 470 in defence of the dam workers, which could irrefutably be seen as a potentially attractive terrorist-attack target.

 Another 130 Italian soldiers, pilots -- in helicopters and other warplanes --- and gunmen have been sent to the city of Erbil, under American command. Others are there for humanitarian support, with 45 protection units and flying squads ready to transport humanitarian aid, 'Il Messaggero' writes.

 A significant number are also in Baghdad along with international armed forces present in the capital.

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