Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who visited Ottawa yesterday, that the government of Canada will increase the country's armed forces participating in the international operation against Islamic State militants in Iraq for another six months.
Harper will put this issue on the agenda of the national parliament today. The question of the participation of the Canadian military in operations against the IS and in Syria will also be raised.
Canada’s current six-month mission in Iraq expires on April 7. Canada’s anti-ISIS mission includes six CF-18 fighter jets, two CP-140 Aurora surveillance planes and one Airbus CC-150 Polaris refueling tanker aircraft. 600 troops came to the Middle East for the air support mission. About 70 special forces soldiers, who have been training Kurdish peshmerga fighters, are also involved in the operation.
