Italy is to send 450 troops to defend Iraq's strategic Mosul dam, near the city occupied by "Islamic State" (ISIS) terrorists, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced, according to AFP.
The dam on the Tigris river, built by a German-Italian consortium in the 1980s and in which Italian company Trevi still has an interest, is a vital water and power source for Mosul, Iraq's largest northern city.