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Mar 30, 2021 5:34 PM -

Ottawa announces one-year extension to anti-ISIL mission, but offers few details

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Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan takes part in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Canada is staying in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant for another year.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced this afternoon that Canada will keep up to 850 troops in Iraq and the surrounding region until next March.

The extension comes only one day before the mission, which began in October 2014, was set to end.

It also coincides with growing concerns about Iran's influence in Iraq, with Tehran backing numerous Shia militia groups.

Those groups, which have largely displaced ISIL as the main threat in Iraq, have stepped up attacks on Western forces in recent months.

The Liberal government previously set a cap of 850 troops for the mission several years ago, but Canada had been slowly withdrawing troops from the region over the last year.

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