Special forces join offensive in Hawija
City one of ISIL’s last strongholds in Iraq
Canadian special forces in Iraq are now involved in the battle of Hawija, an offensive against ISIL extremists which started early Thursday.
Iraqi and coalition troops hope to push the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from the city of 150,000, one of the extremist group’s last remaining strongholds in the country.
The Canadian Forces isn’t releasing details about the numbers of Canadians involved, but the head of Canadian special forces said Hawija is now the major focus of his personnel in Iraq.
In an interview with Postmedia on Thursday, Maj. Gen. Mike Rouleau, head of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, said his soldiers have been involved in planning for the battle and will advise and assist Iraqi troops.
“They won’t be in the vanguard,” Rouleau said, citing the rules that have governed Canadian troops during their time in Iraq. But he said Canadian special forces can use lethal force to protect themselves or their Iraqi counterparts if needed. In the past, Canadian commandos have directed air strikes and launched anti-tank missiles against ISIL forces. Canadian snipers have also targeted ISIL troops.
An estimated 2,000 ISIL fighters are thought to be in Hawija, located 50 kilometres west of the city of Kirkuk in the north of Iraq. Hawija has been under their control since June, 2014.
Rouleau said Canadian special forces will also continue to train Kurdish troops, of whom they have so far trained 2,450. In addition, the Canadian Army will provide about a dozen specialized personnel to support the Canada’s special operations task force in Iraq. Rouleau said these will be army engineers from Garrison Petawawa in the Ottawa Valley. The engineers will help improve fortifications and bolster force protection for both special forces and the Kurds, he said.
Canada has also sent a small team of Canadian Army engineers to observe ongoing explosive-threat training the Iraqis are receiving under a NATO program, the first step in plans to have Canadian combat engineers providing such training to the Iraqis later this fall, the military said.
Kurdish forces, also known as the Peshmerga, will not take part in the offensive to retake Hawija. Jabar Yawar, the secretary general of the Peshmerga ministry, told the Kurdish news outlet Rudaw that the troops will prevent ISIL gunmen from infiltrating their lines. But he also told Rudaw they would not allow any units of the Iraqi military to cross the lines into Peshmerga-controlled areas.
That decision is a further sign of the tension between Iraqis and Kurds in the leadup to a Kurdish referendum, scheduled for Monday, on creating an independent Kurdish state in what is now northern Iraq. Early indications are that the vote will go in favour of independence, and Kurdish president Masoud Barzani said Wednesday he expects negotiations for an independent state will take around two years.
But several nations have been calling on the Kurds to rethink their referendum, warning that it could hurt efforts to battle ISIL.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his cabinet will meet Friday to decide whether to impose sanctions on the Kurds if they separate from Iraq. “Steps such as demands for independence that can cause new crises and conflicts in the region must be avoided,” Erdogan told the UN on Tuesday.
The U.S. State Department has warned the Kurds they could see aid to their region cut off, and on Wednesday Saudi Arabia called for the referendum to be cancelled.
Iraq has declared the referendum unconstitutional, and its parliament voted last week to “take all measures” to preserve the country’s unity amid growing concerns fighting could break our between the two sides.
In July, Gen. Raymond Thomas, head of U.S. Special Forces Command, suggested any moves toward independence by the Kurds, who now control the city of Kirkuk and 40 per cent of Iraq’s oil, will lead to conflict.