Canada to step up anti-Islamic State role in Syria

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced on Tuesday the plan to expand Canada’s mission against Islamic State (IS) militants by sending fighter jets to attack targets in Syria.

Harper, a member of the Conservative party, also announced his intention to extend Canada’s six-month military mission within the international coalition against IS by another year to April 2016.

The motion will be unveiled to the House of Commons on Tuesday, where giving the green light to CF-18 jets to operate in IS-occupied territories in Syria is expected to be debated later this week.

“Unless confronted with strong and direct force, the threat that IS poses to Canada and to international peace and security will grow,” the motion read, adding that destroying IS “will require striking its operations and infrastructure where they are located, including Syria”.

Canada has around 70 special operation forces troops on the ground in northern Iraq training local fighters, and has assisted the United States with six fighter jets to target IS in Iraq.

Defence Minister Jason Kenney revealed the government’s intent to expand its operations on Monday, and blamed IS for massacring and forcibly displacing religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria.

“The government intends to table a motion seeking the concurrence of this House in an extension, an expansion of the Canadian security mission against the genocidal terrorist organisation IS that has declared war on Canada,” he said in the Commons, blaming IS for being behind the fatal attacks on two Canadian soldiers last October.

“Canadians believe that we should not sit on the sidelines,” he added.

Harper’s government has adopted a hardline stance on IS, saying that the organisation represents a fundamental threat to Canada. The motion is guaranteed to win approval, as the Conservatives have a majority in the House of Commons.

Liberal MP Joyce Murray accused Harper of not being completely honest with Canadian citizens about their country’s role against IS, citing that the non-combatant role of Canadian special operation forces in Iraq has evolved into accompanying local Iraqi fighters to the front line.

“That’s a big concern for us, that the prime minister has not been honest and open with Canadians about the mission so far,” she said.