Iraq mission extended to 2019

OTTAWA— The defence minister announced Thursday that Canada’s military mission in Iraq would be extended by another two years, to March 31, 2019, with a new focus on training Iraqi security forces, despite their troubled record of human rights abuses.

While ostensibly helping local forces only in an advise-and-assist role, away from the front lines, Canadian special operations forces soldiers have occasionally exchanged fire with Daesh fighters.

But precisely how often remains a mystery. The military revealed last week that a sniper with Joint Task Force 2 — a special forces unit — killed an extremist at a distance of 3,540 metres, a shot they said disrupted an attack by Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan cheered that long-range shot, but is refusing to say how many other times troops on the noncombat mission have fired on extremists.

“Yes, they’ve had to use their rules of engagement on a number of occa- sions, but they do it all within the framework and mandate that we’ve given them,” he said, adding that he does not get briefed on every engagement involving troops in Iraq.

“We trust them to carry out that task and they do that on a daily basis,” Sajjan told reporters during a teleconference Thursday from Brussels, where he attended a meeting of NATO defence ministers.

Thursday’s announcement of a mission extension came as Iraqi and coalition forces prepared to mark the liberation of Mosul from Daesh. But Sajjan cautioned that a “lot of work” lies ahead.

“This whole situation which got us here is because the Iraqi security forces weren’t able to hold their own against Daesh,” Sajjan said.

The challenges facing some Iraqi security forces were laid bare by the Star recently, revealing abuse and torture by one group of troops attached to the elite Emergency Response Division, all captured in photos and video by photographer Ali Arkady.

The Canadian military said it had no direct involvement with that unit.