Trudeau: Canadian Fighter Jets Leaving Middle East in Two Weeks

“In our decision, we were guided by our desire to do what we could do best to help in the region and to do it in the right way”, Trudeau said during a news conference.

“As Prime Minister Trudeau said, air strikes are ineffective at achieving long-term stability in any region”.

Mr. Trudeau was accompanied by three ministers during the announcement, the Minister of Defense Harjit Sajjan, Global Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and Minister responsible for CIDA, Marie-Claude Bibeau.

The military portion of Ottawa’s revised response involves tripling the number of Canadian Forces troops training local ground forces engaged in fighting Islamic State jihadists.

“ISIL would like us to see them as a credible threat to our way of life and to our civilization”.

One wonders what Trudeau would have said had former prime minister Stephen Harper proposed the piecemeal mission striving for imprecise objectives unveiled Monday by Trudeau. There will also be additional equipment (ammunition, small arms, etc) as well as medical personnel to assist Iraq security forces.

Public opinion polls show Canadians are sharply divided over the role of the country’s military in the fight against Islamic State militants.

“Call us old-fashioned, but we think that we ought to avoid doing precisely what our enemies want us to do”, he said.

“The Trudeau Liberals promised to end the Conservative government’s mission and said we need a clearer line between combat and non-combat”.

The six aircraft CF-18 fighter participating in the efforts of the coalition since November 2014 will then be brought back to the country, said Mr. Trudeau confirming Canada’s new contribution to the fight against the armed group Islamic State.

“Liberals are tripling the size of so-called advisers to the Iraqi military, with some forces working in a “battlefield context” and others working to ‘enhance in-theatre tactical transport, ‘” Laverdière told CBC News.

The prime minister’s announcement comes as Sajjan prepares to leave for Brussels, where he will meet with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation defence ministers on February 10-11.

Overall, the government said it would contribute over $1.6 billion over the next three years on the security, stabilization and humanitarian efforts in the affected regions, including Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Vance said Canadian military personnel will be marking targets as part of their work with Iraqi security forces.

$270 million more is being earmarked to bolster local social services and improve assistance for refugees in the region who have been displaced by the war.