Canadian fighter jets strike Islamic State inside Syria

OTTAWA— Canadian warplanes have struck their first target in Syria, flying deep into the country to strike at the heart of the Islamic extremist operations.

Two CF-18 fighters dropped precision-guided bombs Wednesday on an Islamic State garrison near ArRaqqah, a northern provincial capital and stronghold for the group.

It’s the first strike by CF-18s against a target in Syria since the expanded operations against Islamic militants that had been restricted to Iran.

In Wednesday’s attack, the CF-18s joined eight other coalition aircraft, including six from the United States. The Canadian aircraft safely returned to their airbase, the defence department said in a statement.

Last week, the Conservatives expanded the mission to include Syria and extend it to March 2016, over the objections of the Liberals and NDP.

The Defence Department revealed Wednesday that while this was the first airstrike, CF-18s had flown over Syria three separate times since the expanded mission was approved.

“Air sorties provide valuable opportunities to assess new areas of operation,” the department said in a statement.

The last reported strikes by Canadian jets came on April 4, when they hit targets west of Mosul, in northern Iraq, where extremists established a roadside bomb-making facility.

The commander of Canada’s combat operations in the Middle East warned just before the holiday weekend that strikes into Syria were imminent.

Brig.-Gen. Dan Constable said Canada’s allies were “excited” that the CF-18 jets would expand their operations beyond Iraq, where they have been conducting missions for six months.