Canada to Send Military Advisers to Iraq to counter ISIS
Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah
5 Sep 2014
Canada is sending between 50 to 100 military advisers to Iraq to help boost the country’s capability to combat Islamic extremists, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today.
“Canadian Armed Forces members will provide strategic and tactical advice to Iraqi forces before they commence tactical operations against ISIL (also known as ISIS). Canada will be present in an advisory and assistance role,” according to a release from the Prime Minister's Office.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday they will join the U.S. in advising Iraq on how to enable security forces in the northern part of the country to be more effective against the threat posed by the group that calls itself the Islamic State.
“Canada is joining its allies in providing critical advice to forces in northern Iraq as they continue to hold back the terrorist advance,” Harper told reporters
Harper said the move is a response to ISIS’s “murderous rampage” and the humanitarian crisis it has caused. Left unchecked, the radical group is a “direct threat” to Canada and its allies, he said in the statement.
The contribution is in addition to the two Canadian military cargo planes that are ferrying weapons to Kurdish fighters.
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird visited the front lines in Iraq this week. The Harper government said opposition leaders in Canada are being briefed on this decision.
Meanwhile,Obama, criticised last week for saying the US "did not have a strategy" to defeat Isis in Iraq and Syria, also gradually expanded his military objectives, saying the aim was to degrade and destroy Isis, rather than just to protect US citizens and vulnerable minorities.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, joined by U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, chaired a meeting of nations Friday morning that included Defence Minister Rob Nicholson and Lynne Yelich, minister of state for foreign affairs.
“We need to attack them in ways that prevent them from taking over territory, that bolster the Iraqi security forces, others in the region who are prepared to take them on, without committing troops of our own,” Kerry told the group.
Obama and Cameron Call on NATO push for coalition against ISIS
President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain have called on NATO to reject “isolationist” impulses and confront the rising terrorist threat posed by Sunni militants in the Middle East.
Cameron met Barack Obama for more than 40 minutes to discuss the principles of a campaign that will extend through Kurdish northern Iraq, Sunni Iraq and possibly into Syria itself.
Cameron, announced Britain would start supplying lethal military equipment to Kurdish forces resisting the Islamist advance.
Sources
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/canada-send-military-advisers-iraq-25261148
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/05/us-iraq-crisis-coalition-canada-idUSKBN0H01GR20140905
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/09/05/canadas_military_headed_to_iraq.html
5 Sep 2014
Canada is sending between 50 to 100 military advisers to Iraq to help boost the country’s capability to combat Islamic extremists, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today.
“Canadian Armed Forces members will provide strategic and tactical advice to Iraqi forces before they commence tactical operations against ISIL (also known as ISIS). Canada will be present in an advisory and assistance role,” according to a release from the Prime Minister's Office.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday they will join the U.S. in advising Iraq on how to enable security forces in the northern part of the country to be more effective against the threat posed by the group that calls itself the Islamic State.
“Canada is joining its allies in providing critical advice to forces in northern Iraq as they continue to hold back the terrorist advance,” Harper told reporters
Harper said the move is a response to ISIS’s “murderous rampage” and the humanitarian crisis it has caused. Left unchecked, the radical group is a “direct threat” to Canada and its allies, he said in the statement.
The contribution is in addition to the two Canadian military cargo planes that are ferrying weapons to Kurdish fighters.
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird visited the front lines in Iraq this week. The Harper government said opposition leaders in Canada are being briefed on this decision.
Meanwhile,Obama, criticised last week for saying the US "did not have a strategy" to defeat Isis in Iraq and Syria, also gradually expanded his military objectives, saying the aim was to degrade and destroy Isis, rather than just to protect US citizens and vulnerable minorities.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, joined by U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, chaired a meeting of nations Friday morning that included Defence Minister Rob Nicholson and Lynne Yelich, minister of state for foreign affairs.
“We need to attack them in ways that prevent them from taking over territory, that bolster the Iraqi security forces, others in the region who are prepared to take them on, without committing troops of our own,” Kerry told the group.
Obama and Cameron Call on NATO push for coalition against ISIS
President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain have called on NATO to reject “isolationist” impulses and confront the rising terrorist threat posed by Sunni militants in the Middle East.
Cameron met Barack Obama for more than 40 minutes to discuss the principles of a campaign that will extend through Kurdish northern Iraq, Sunni Iraq and possibly into Syria itself.
Cameron, announced Britain would start supplying lethal military equipment to Kurdish forces resisting the Islamist advance.
Sources
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/canada-send-military-advisers-iraq-25261148
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/05/us-iraq-crisis-coalition-canada-idUSKBN0H01GR20140905
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/09/05/canadas_military_headed_to_iraq.html
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