"They wanted to put down Gaddafi". Giuliano Amato's remarks risk igniting a diplomatic crisis between Italy and France by reopening the wound of the DC9 Itavia's destruction in the skies of Ustica on June 27, 1980. Because at the heart of the argument revived by the former prime minister is the French attempt to shoot down a plane on which the Libyan leader was to travel. According to this theory, the Italian civilian aircraft would have been in the midst of an air battle. "The most credible version is that of the responsibility of the French Air Force, with the complicity of the Americans and those who participated in the air war in our skies on the evening of 27 June," Amato says to the newspaper Repubblica: "The aim was to assassinate Geddafi, flying on a MiG of his air force. The plan was to simulate a NATO exercise, with many planes in action, during which a missile should have been launched against the Libyan leader: the exercise was a staging that would have allowed the attack to be passed off as an unintentional accident." The words prompted a series of responses from the Italian government, beginning with President Giorgia Meloni. "I ask President Amato if, in addition to the deductions, he has elements that allow him to return to the conclusions of the judiciary and Parliament, and to make them available if necessary, so that the government can take all possible and appropriate steps." Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, for his part, emphasized that these are "words of a private citizen" that "cannot be commented on." And despite the Elysée's "no comment" policy, there are many on the right and the left who want to "go deeper" into the massacre's truth. In addition, Mattarella himself stated, "a complete truth has not yet been reached, and this is a wound to the sensibility of the citizens." (Photo by Palickap)