In a startling revelation, former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato has suggested that a French air force missile was responsible for the downing of a passenger jet over the Mediterranean Sea in 1980. Amato contends that this was part of a failed attempt to assassinate Moammar Gaddafi, the then-leader of Libya. The crash, which occurred on June 27, 1980, resulted in the tragic loss of all 81 individuals aboard the Italian domestic flight.
Amato has called upon French President Emmanuel Macron to either confirm or refute his assertion regarding the cause of the crash, which has remained one of modern Italy’s most enduring mysteries. While he acknowledges that he lacks concrete proof, Amato firmly believes that France targeted a Libyan military jet and accidentally struck the passenger plane.
According to his account, Italy alerted Gaddafi to the impending danger, prompting the Libyan leader, who was returning to Tripoli from a meeting in Yugoslavia, not to board the military jet. The exact cause of the crash has been a subject of debate for decades, with some suggesting that a bomb detonated on the Itavia jetliner during its flight from Bologna to Sicily, while others argue that missile damage caused the tragedy.
Radar data from the time indicated a flurry of aircraft activity in the vicinity when the plane went down. Amato contends that the most credible version of events points to the responsibility of the French air force, potentially acting in collusion with the United States, in a covert operation to target Gaddafi.
NATO, according to Amato, had planned to stage an exercise involving multiple aircraft, during which a missile was supposed to be fired, with Gaddafi as the intended target. In the aftermath of the crash, French, U.S., and NATO officials vehemently denied any military activity in the skies that fateful night.
Amato suggests that a missile was allegedly fired from a French fighter jet that had taken off from an aircraft carrier, possibly located off the southern coast of Corsica. He has called on Macron to address these allegations by either disproving them or offering a formal apology to Italy and the victims’ families.
While Macron’s office has refrained from immediate comment, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has urged Amato to provide concrete evidence to support his claims, so that the government can explore further investigations. These revelations are not entirely new, as former Italian President Francesco Cossiga had also suggested French involvement in a 2008 television interview, adding that Italy’s secret services had tipped off Gaddafi.
Gaddafi’s ultimate fate saw him killed during Libya’s civil war in 2011, while the wreckage of a Libyan MiG was discovered in southern Calabria a few weeks after the passenger jet crash.
The allegations surrounding this decades-old tragedy highlight the complex web of political intrigue and covert operations that have marked modern history. The pursuit of truth in such matters remains an ongoing challenge for governments and societies alike.
