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June 30th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Canada will extend the mission of 200 Canadian troops helping train Iraqi soldiers in the fight against Islamic State for two years. Troops will stay until the end of March 2019 said the Defense Ministry.
In joint statement, Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada will also make a Hercules transport plane available to the U.S-led coalition fighting the Islamic State. The extension had been widely expected by all parties, even though not everyone agrees with it.
It was not specified whether the Canadian plane could also be used in U.S.-led operations in Syria which are being conducted without a clear and unambiguous mandate.
Critics also question whether Canadian troops could become directly involved in combat operations despite a promise by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the soldiers would only use their weapons in self-defense, because they are there solely in an advisory role. Many don’t fear, but rather expect “mission creep” similar to that which was observed with U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq.
Last November, military officials said the Canadian troops in Iraq clashed several dozen times with Islamic State militants. Canada is a member of the U.S.-led, 65-state international coalition fighting the Islamic State since the group emerged in 2014 to proclaim an “Islamic Caliphate” spanning a third of Iraq and Syria. Several other countries, beside the United States, are also operating in Syria, without Syrian or international mandate, claiming “self-defense” because ISIS poses an international threat.
Especially in the tri-border area of Iraq – Jordan – Syria (plus the Israeli occupied Golan) U.S., as well as Norwegian troops have been involved and implicated in clashes with troops that support the Syrian government instead of ISIS. Most independent observers and unbiased reporters would recognize that the primary function of “Coalition” troops there is to break the Iran – Iraq – Syria (plus Lebanon) axis instead of fighting ISIS.
The declaration by Canada came as Iraq declared it took over the city of Mosul, ISIS’s previously-proclaimed capital. But a few other pockets are still held by the extremist group in the provinces of Kirkuk, Anbar and the areas between Salahuddin and Diyala.
CH/L – nsnbc 30.06.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/06/30/canada-extends-iraq-mission-by-two-years/
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