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Canada to withdraw jets fighting Daesh in Iraq and Syria

Tuesday, 08 December 2015 1:36 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 08 December 2015 1:48 AM ]

Canadian CF-18 fighter jets

Canada’s new government says it will uphold its election campaign promise and withdraw the country's fighter jets which have been targeting purported Daesh targets in Iraq and Syria.

The six war planes will be withdrawn over the next few weeks, Reuters cited Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion as saying on Monday.

"We're carrying out two percent of the airstrikes. We're going to do something more efficient for the coalition," he said, referring to the so-called US-led coalition that began targeting purported militant positions in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

According to the new Liberal government, which came to power last month, Canada’s deployment of more ground troops to northern Iraq to train Kurdish forces battling the Takfiri terrorists would be more efficient than taking part in coalition airstrikes.

Canada was formerly engaged in a previous training mission in Iraq, which ended as the US withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011 following the invasion of the Arab country in 2003.

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