Canada Joins War Against Islamic State Jihadists
Kristina Fernandez | | Oct 08, 2014 12:00 PM EDT |
(Photo : Canadian Forces/Matthew McGregor) Canada's Parliament passed a motion on Tuesday authorizing the deployment of a small Canadian force, including CF-18 Hornet fighter planes (pictured here), to assist in fighting Islamic State in Iraq, and possibly in Syria in the future.
Canada's parliament passed a controversial motion late Tuesday authorizing the deployment of Canadian forces to join the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State insurgents in Syria and Iraq.
The motion was first introduced last week by Prime Minister Stephen Harper who made the case of helping Canada's allies in beating back the Islamist terrorists by crippling their capability to launch attacks beyond the Middle East.
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Followed by two days of heated debates, the motion was passed with 157-134 votes in favor of deploying a small number of fighter planes and about 600 aircrews in Iraq. Harper's party, the Conservatives, owned 155 of the winning votes.
However, not everyone is happy about the motion.
Opposition Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair condemned the Conservatives for plunging the Canadians to a bloody war that lacks a solid, credible strategy.
He undermined Harper's judgment whom he accused of sending the country into "an unclear mission" that is likely to extend from its initial six months period of limited bombings in Iraq into an extended period of aerial missions in Syria.
The Canadian National Post reported that military officials in the Middle East will be tasked to finalize arrangements with the coalition for the arrival of the Canadian forces.
The newspaper also said that the discussions, which include figuring out how exactly Canadian forces will be integrated into the U.S.-led air campaign, would take up about three weeks.
Washington welcomed Canadian participation in the aerial bombardments against Islamic State targets in its self-declared caliphate territories in Iraq. Earlier, U.S. President Barack Obama negotiated with Canada for special military advisers to train Kurdish militiamen in Syria.
In a statement, Washington confirmed Canada's contributions to war efforts waged by the United States against terrorism, saying that both countries have fought side by side in major conflicts over the last century, the Guardian reported.
Canada is the newest member of the growing anti-Islamic State coalition formed through the Washington's initiatives. Other countries involved in fighting the Islamic State, whose latest bloody campaign has driven out about 180,000 Syrian refugees from Kobani into neighboring Turkey, include UK, the Netherlands, France, Australia, Denmark, and five Arab countries.
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