Italy will not send police officers to Syria "as long as the political and military situation remains uncertain," defence minister Roberta Pinotti told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Wednesday.
Italy has not received a request to deploy policemen to Syria although it had discussed with the US the idea of extending its police training mission in Iraq to the war-wracked country, Pinotti said.
"But our position is clear: as long as the political and military situation remains uncertain, our decision remains to support the coalition in Iraq," Pinotti stated.
"We have the second largest number of security force members there after the US," Pinotti underlined.
Italy will cut its 1,500-strong military contingent in Iraq this year, drawing down at least 700 troops, Pinotti told a summit in Rome on Tuesday.
Fifteen defence ministers from the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group attended Tuesday's summit including US defence secretary James Mattis.
