Exclusive interviews granted to the Toronto Star and CTV News reveal never-told details of how Canadian special forces helped turn back one of ISIS’s largest offensives.
ERBIL, IRAQ—It’s fitting that the schoolhouse looks like a small fortress.
For two days in December, this was where Canadian special operations forces helped local Kurdish fighters repel a brazen offensive by Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
In the history of Canadian special operations forces, few stories have been told. But the Star is able to tell this one through interviews with senior Canadian, American and Kurdish commanders, adding new details to what Defence officials had previously disclosed.
The revelations provide a reality check on the threats facing Canadian soldiers in a mission that, while billed as “noncombat” by politicians and commanders alike, still involves engagements with a dangerous and determined enemy.
In this case, hundreds of Daesh fighters burst through a Kurdish peshmerga line one afternoon using vehicle-borne bombs, suicide attacks and an armoured bulldozer.
Cue the Canadians.
The attack began at 4 p.m. on Dec. 16 west of Erbil.
Article Continued Below
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...es-helped-stop-a-massive-daesh-offensive.html
ERBIL, IRAQ—It’s fitting that the schoolhouse looks like a small fortress.
For two days in December, this was where Canadian special operations forces helped local Kurdish fighters repel a brazen offensive by Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
In the history of Canadian special operations forces, few stories have been told. But the Star is able to tell this one through interviews with senior Canadian, American and Kurdish commanders, adding new details to what Defence officials had previously disclosed.
The revelations provide a reality check on the threats facing Canadian soldiers in a mission that, while billed as “noncombat” by politicians and commanders alike, still involves engagements with a dangerous and determined enemy.
In this case, hundreds of Daesh fighters burst through a Kurdish peshmerga line one afternoon using vehicle-borne bombs, suicide attacks and an armoured bulldozer.
Cue the Canadians.
The attack began at 4 p.m. on Dec. 16 west of Erbil.
Article Continued Below
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...es-helped-stop-a-massive-daesh-offensive.html