Italy’s defence minister Crosetto in headlines as Rome weighs Gaza/Israel tensions and hybrids threat planning. bio: Italian politician, minister since 2022.
Ukraine has developed cheap, scalable defences—electronic warfare, gun teams and interceptor drones—that have been intercepting roughly 90% of Russian Shahed-type drones and producing over 1,000 interceptor drones a day by 2025. Western allies are redirecting expensive interceptors to Gulf needs, and European states are committing air-defence systems to protect Gulf missions.
On April 13, 2026, Italy has suspended the automatic renewal of its 2005 defence memorandum with Israel. The move follows rising tensions after Israeli attacks in Lebanon and incidents involving Italian UN peacekeepers. Italy's right-wing government, previously a staunch Israel ally, is shifting its stance amid regional instability and upcoming elections.
The United States is considering reducing forces in Germany and has threatened to withdraw troops from Italy and Spain after criticizing those allies over the Iran war. European partners have pushed back, with Spain and Italy denying basing rights were used for Iran-related strikes.