Canada Hiding Bravery of its Special Forces

By: Scott Taylor, The Chronicle Herald 

Last week, the Canadian military told reporters that our special forces operatives in northern Iraq have been involved in numerous firefights in recent weeks with the Daesh evildoers.

Iraqi Forces fire a rocket towards an ISIL fighting position. 

After photos had appeared on Facebook showing Canadian soldiers firing anti-armour missiles on the front lines, it was not surprising that DND confirmed this to be the case.

According to Maj.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, commander of the Canadian Special Operations Forces (CANSOFCOM), there have been three separate occasions wherein our soldiers engaged Daesh would-be suicide bombers with sophisticated anti-armour missile systems.

For those who have been following the now weeks-long allied offensive to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from Daesh, it is widely known that the evildoers have employed a multitude of suicide car bombs.

Rouleau explained: “The Kurds do not possess weapons like we have. So our three engagements with anti-armour weapon systems prevented that from happening several thousand metres before they wanted to detonate.” So far, so good. Our commandos are blasting apart the Daesh bad guys on the battlefield.

But that sounds like combat, and as we have been told repeatedly by both the former Conservative government and the current Liberal government, Canada does not have a combat mandate in Iraq.

To make the distinction clear, Rouleau stressed to reporters the fact that Canadian troops are not leading the fight, nor are they engaged in “offensive combat operations.” Digging himself in deeper, Rouleau added, “We have never accompanied any leading combat elements. My troops have not been engaged in direct combat as a fighting element in offensive combat operations.”

Huh? How can these Canadian soldiers firing anti-armour missiles not be with a leading combat element, if the only thing in front of them are the Daesh attackers? As for offensive operations, the entire push into Mosul and the recapture of its surrounding villages is one massive offensive. The Daesh suicide vehicles are desperate counterattacks to slow down the allied advance. It is a hell of a stretch of logic to push right up to the Daesh front lines and then proclaim your actions to be self-defence and, somehow, not combat.

Sticking to his guns, Rouleau tried to portray his soldiers’ actions as those of helpful bystanders who will engage Daesh with sniper fire or airstrikes to defend the Kurdish fighters they are supposed to be training. “From deliberately selected positions that maximize our utility to advancing Kurd forces, we have either defended ourselves, defended friendly forces, or defended civilians caught in the middle,” explained Rouleau.

Forgetting the fact that Rouleau’s statement of directly supporting “advancing Kurd forces” contradicts his earlier claim of having “never accompanied any leading combat elements,” it brings to mind the old axiom that if the enemy is within range of you, then you are within range of the enemy.

The crazy part of all this is that most Canadians do not care that our special forces personnel are engaged in combat with Daesh, even though they do not have a mandate to do so. The Daesh evildoers are mass murderers, rapists and perpetrators of attempted genocide. There is no doubt a sense of perverse pride among the Colonel Blimp warmongers that Canada is actively engaged in this shooting war. However, Canadian generals just can’t admit it.

I have stated repeatedly that, in my opinion, Canadian soldiers are not among the best in the world — they are the best. Our special forces operatives are undoubtedly a tremendous asset to the Kurdish forces they are supporting in battle. I am also sure that several of our soldiers have performed acts of heroism that would be worthy of medals of valour. However, due to the deliberate duplicity of our senior commanders in redefining the term combat in order to exceed their politically mandated ‘advise and assist’ role, these soldiers are not getting full credit for their service.

We can’t praise Canadian soldiers for their prowess in combat because, officially, they cannot be in combat.

Canadian Special Forces Engaging ISIS to protect Civilians& Allies

By: Murray Brewster, CBC News 

Canadian special forces soldiers in Iraq have occasionally opened fire without warning on Islamic State extremists in order to protect civilians and their Kurdish allies, military officials say.

They have also been deeply and routinely involved in evacuating casualties from the front in the months leading up to the offensive to liberate the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Military officials revealed the information on Monday, saying they want the Canadian public to have a better understanding of the soldiers' mission to train and advise Peshmerga fighters.

The Liberal government has insisted the elite soldiers are not involved in combat and that they shoot back when they're attacked.

Commanders have in the past hinted about troops taking preventive action, but officials speaking on background in Iraq removed all doubt.

Related
Canadian troops watching for human rights abuses as battle for Mosul rages
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Anti-ISIS fight will get harder after Mosul, says Canadian general

Later during a tour of the front line in northern Iraq — coming within 15 kilometres and earshot of the raging battle in Mosul — Lt.-Col. Steven Hunter pointed to several specific incidents.

He says his troops have sometimes been the first ones to spot the enemy, and when it's clear the Peshmerga can't respond, the Canadians have shot first.

"Because they have demonstrated hostile intent, we're able, through our rules of engagement, to use our own weapons systems to engage that kind of threat," said Hunter, the commanding officer of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment.

It's happened in instances where ISIS fighters were rallying behind massive suicide bomb trucks and when civilians were being threatened.

As an illustration for one battle, Hunter used the rocky, sloping, barbwire-stitched side of Zardek Mountain, a long-time Peshmerga redoubt northeast of Erbil.

For security reasons, the accounts from the battle have been scrubbed of any details that ISIS commanders might find useful. It is impossible to corroborate the details.

The troops have helped man casualty clearing stations directly behind the front lines during Kurdish operations last summer that liberated a series of towns on the road to Mosul.

Some of the stories, told by officials, were stark.

At one station, 450 patients went through in the space of a few weeks.

Peshmerga Brig.-Gen. Weisi dismisses reports that Kurdish units have deliberately demolished Sunni Arab villages. A report by Human Rights Watch criticized the Kurds. (Murray Brewster/CBC)

Both Hunter and Brig.-Gen. Peter Dawe, the deputy commander of the entire special forces branch, praised the working relationship with the Kurds and said the trust that has been built up comes largely because Canadians were willing to share the danger.

It has also afforded them the opportunity to keep a close look on their allies.

Over the weekend, a Human Rights Watch report accused the Peshmerga of deliberately destroying Sunni villages.

Brig.-Gen. Weisi, the commander of Peshmerga forces of the district Zerevani, dismissed the allegations as being manufactured by disgruntled Sunnis.

"Of course there are some people over there who are ISIS supporters," Weisi told CBC News in an interview. "They provided information to ISIS. They worked with ISIS."

A CH-146 Griffon lands in a field northwest of Erbil. The helicopter detachment is a recent addition to Canada's mission in Iraq. (Murray Brewster/CBC)

He later suggested the village had been caught in the crossfire.

The U.S.-led coalition command released a statement, taking note of the controversy.

"We are aware of the reports, but cannot confirm the accuracy of the accounts," officials said.

The Liberal government in Ottawa has yet to formally respond.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has sought to play up Canada's humanitarian involvement in Iraq.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced last summer a military hospital would be deployed to Erbil for the Mosul offensive.

The four-bed facility finally opened last week after numerous customs delays in Baghdad, where the central government has been keeping a wary eye on the relationships of the independence-minded Kurds.

Unidentified doctors and a nurse work on a patient during a casualty simulation exercise. After long delays, a Canadian military hospital began operating last week in Erbil. It will treat casualties from the offensive against ISIS in Mosul. (Murray Brewster/CBC)

The officer in charge of the centre, Lt.-Col. Richard Morin, served as a doctor during the Canadian combat mission in Kandahar. Bracing for casualties from the Mosul offensive caused him to reflect.

"When you do come to these kinds of deployments you realize how lucky we are; how privileged we are to bring our skills to this kind of environment," he said.

The Liberals also approved the deployment of a tactical helicopter detachment, which is now up and running. The CH-146 Griffons are meant to transport special forces soldiers and act as backup medical lift aircraft to evacuate wounded from the battlefield.

After reshaping the mission last year and ending an aerial bombing campaign against ISIS by CF-18s, the Trudeau government has been mum on whether Canada will participate beyond next spring in the aftermath of the expected defeat of ISIS in Mosul.

Despite that, National Defence has poured $3.75 million into the construction of a semi-permanent military camp in Erbil, housing different elements of the mission.

Major construction only started in June and some barracks just opened last week.

Quagmire: Iraq could get messy for Canada

Adnan R. Khan, Maclean's 

Canadian Special Forces are in the thick of the battle around Mosul. What comes next?

The way the commander of the Canadian-trained Zeravani forces in northern Iraq describes it, the scene could have been lifted out of Mad Max. On Oct. 17, as a coalition of Iraqi army and Kurdish fighters launched the long-awaited offensive into ISIS-controlled Mosul, Iraq, Canada’s JTF2 Special Forces did what elite fighters are wont to do: they joined the fight. But according to Col. Majid—a veteran of the Zeravani, a commando unit linked to the Interior Ministry of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region—the Canadians didn’t simply roll in riding armoured vehicles alongside their Zeravani counterparts.

“They were smart,” says the 52-year old veteran soldier, clearly impressed by the Canadians’ bravado. “The six or seven of them that I saw rode in on those four-wheeled motorcycles. They were quick and mobile. They pushed forward with us. They fought the battle with us. They fired missiles and destroyed suicide vehicles.”

Over the two years that around 70 of Canada’s JTF2 Special Forces soldiers have been deployed to Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, their role has morphed from what Stephen Harper first described as a backseat “advise and assist” mission, to one in which the Liberal government has conceded Canadians would be near the frontlines but only engaging in “defensive” actions, to what today appears to be direct participation in offensive operations.

Defence Department officials in Ottawa are typically vague on the specifics. “To ensure the safety and protection of our deployed personnel, the exact details of ongoing operations will not be disclosed,” an email response to a Maclean’s query read. “Our mandate has not changed. We are there to train, advise, and assist.”

Colonel Majid, the deputy commander of the Zeravani frontline position in Khorsebat village at the Nawaran frontlines, north of Mosul. (Photograph by Adnan R. Khan)

But according to numerous interviews with Kurdish forces, conducted as Maclean’stoured the frontlines of the Mosul offensive last weekend, the Canadians played a significant role in the northern and eastern fronts led by the Kurds. The quad-riding commandos were perhaps the most dramatic example. But on other fronts near Mosul, Canadians were also in the thick of battle, helping the Kurds drive back Islamic State fighters and targeting suicide vehicles with anti-tank missiles.

The results have been impressive. Islamic State has collapsed on the fringes of its self-declared Iraqi capital. Village after village has fallen to the advancing Kurds, known as the peshmerga, paving the way for the Iraqi army to enter Mosul, which it did for the first time on Oct. 31, weeks earlier than expected.

Meanwhile, the Zeravani, which has been the main focus of Canada’s training mission in Iraq so far, has stopped its advance, digging into its positions, in some cases less than a kilometre from territory still controlled by Islamic State.

The Canadians have since pulled back as well, reverting to their advisory role. They can be seen driving around frontline positions in SUVs to consult with their Zeravani counterparts, though they refuse to speak to journalists. Unlike the U.S., Canada does not allow the media access to Special Operations soldiers. Here in Iraq, even the Zeravani joke about “Canada’s secret mission”—though there now appears to be nothing particularly secret about it.

The Canadian forward operating bases that dot the Zeravani-controlled fronts maintain the charade: concrete walls and razor wire surround the unmarked compounds. At one base, a group of soldiers, some shirtless in the 30° C heat, gather on a rooftop for some kind of meeting. A call to their translator requesting an interview produces a predictable, emphatic “no.”

It’s difficult to gauge what the danger might be, especially considering locals are perfectly aware Canadian soldiers occupy these compounds, and access to the fronts where they are located is strictly controlled by the Zeravani.

Smoke rises at Islamic State militants’ positions in the town of Naweran, near Mosul, Iraq on October 23, 2016. (Azad Lashkari/Reuters)

Back on the Zeravani frontline, despite a lull in fighting, the situation remains volatile. In Nawaran, 10 km north of Mosul’s outskirts, the Zeravani are in the process of fortifying their positions. ISIS was pushed out of this area on Oct. 20 but they have not gone far, in some places occupying villages less than a kilometre away. Armoured backhoes rumble over the reddish-brown earth, kicking up clouds of dust as they set up fresh berms and observation posts. Zeravani soldiers, mindful of Islamic State fighters nearby, lounge in the shade of concrete bomb shelters. Their nonchalance is not so much heroic as it is fatalistic: the only real danger here is mortar rounds, and mortar rounds are notoriously inaccurate. If one hits you, it is because the universe wishes it.

As if to make the point, a mortar lands with a dull thud not more than 400 m from the unfinished post, producing a telltale narrow plume of smoke. The Zeravani soldiers look on languidly. A few minutes later, a second round lands less than 200 m away. A few minutes after that, the Kurds respond with artillery fire. Then all falls silent again.

Related: Inside the mission to unite a country after ISIS

This is the back-and-forth poking and prodding that is typical to static frontlines. Earlier that morning, Col. Hussein Rashid, a deputy commander of the outpost, told Maclean’s that ISIS fighters had attempted to shift positions from a mosque in Derk village, a kilometre from his position, to a cluster of homes a few hundred metres away.

“Probably they were trying to set up a sniper position,” he surmises. “We called in an airstrike. I think we got them because there has not been any sniping today.”

The Nawaran frontline was a brutal battle, he adds, dominated by coalition airstrikes. All that is left of the nearest “liberated” village, Khorsabad, is a post-apocalyptic tangle of rubble and rebar, bristling with the booby traps that Zeravani commanders warn the retreating Islamic State fighters routinely leave behind.

While describing the battle, Hussein points out the hum of a coalition bomber circling overhead. “Out here, in the abandoned villages and open terrain, the militants are vulnerable,” he says. “Without human shields and the cover provided by buildings, any movement that reveals their positions is a death sentence.”

During the height of the offensive, it was here that Canadian Special Forces soldiers joined the battle in an armoured Humvee, Hussein adds. They also took up positions on a ridgeline overlooking the battlefield, firing mortars and directing the Zeravani forces below. “The Canadians did a lot to make sure we would win this battle,” Hussein says. “This whole area has been liberated because of their contribution.”

A few kilometres to the east, the battle was much different. The residents of Fazliya, a small town of about 6,000 nestled into the base of the ridge occupied by the Canadians, were not given the opportunity to escape before the Kurds arrived, forcing coalition bombers to avoid the kind of indiscriminate airstrikes that leveled Khorsabad.

Fazliya was left relatively intact, but its liberation was a preview of the much more difficult fight to come in Mosul, a sprawling city where an estimated 1.5 million civilians remain trapped. Unlike Khorsabad, which fell relatively quickly in the face of coalition airstrikes, Zeravani forces only managed to roll into Fazliya on Oct. 27, after a one-week siege. Locals say Islamic State fighters had retreated three days before the Zeravani arrived but the liberators took their time moving forward, fearing suicide bombers and snipers.

In the interim, Fazliya’s residents took the opportunity to cleanse themselves of all things Islamic State. Signs were torn down and the black flags of the self-declared caliphate removed. Locals raised white flags over their homes to signal to the Zeravani that it was safe to enter the town.

“The first thing I did was shave my beard,” says Ahmed, a 27-year-old former English teacher who lived through every day of the Islamic State’s 27-month long rule, providing only his first name. “Then I waited for the Kurdish forces to arrive.”

Now, not a single beard can be seen in Fazliya, a telling feature in a part of the world where Islamic conservatism is common. Many locals say they are worried about what comes next in their town. Rumours are spreading that Islamic State loyalists have also shaved their beards and melted in with the population.

Islamic State fighters are the immediate fear in this warzone, but a host of tensions dog the entire Mosul offensive. On Oct. 29, Iranian-backed Shia militias joined the fight, advancing from the west on the ISIS-held town of Tal Afar, 75 km from Mosul, in a bid to cut off supply lines to Syria. The move angered other ethnic and sectarian groups who fear the Shia will attempt to annex Mosul, a mixed city of Sunnis, Christians, Kurds and ethnic Turks. The ethnic and sectarian mix that has been Mosul’s pride for centuries now threatens to tear it apart.

But for Canadians, who have thrown in their lot with the Kurds, still bigger problems loom. The Zeravani say they are done pushing forward. A deal signed between them and Iraq’s central government stipulates that the Kurds will not participate in the fight to take Mosul city. The agreement has broad support in Iraqi Kurdistan. Eliminating Islamic State outside traditional Kurdish territory has never been the prime objective for the Kurds. Over the last two years, they have steadily expanded their territory in northern Iraq, filling the political vacuum as their forces have liberated territory occupied by ISIS. Kurds now control Kirkuk, an oil-rich city 175 km southeast of Mosul. With the help of Canada’s elite soldiers, the Kurdistan Region has ballooned to the east and south.

Helping the Kurds claim land from the Iraqi government for a future independent Kurdistan was never Ottawa’s intention, but it’s looking increasingly like this is what has happened. Col. Hussein, the Zeravani commander on the Nawaran front, says the Kurds have no plans to retreat back to Kurdistan’s official border once ISIS is defeated. “Mosul is not a Kurdish city,” he says. “It’s for Arabs. But the territory we have liberated belongs to the Kurds. God willing, it will remain with the Kurds.”

Iraq’s central government is not, of course, on the same page. Prime Minister Haider al Abadi has repeatedly warned the Kurds not to use the fight against Islamic State as an excuse to annex Iraqi territory.

The first signs of future conflict have begun to surface in Khazer, where Canada helped the Zeravani push even deeper into Iraqi territory. The advance, which launched the Mosul offensive, was fast and furious, lasting only a day and coming to a halt near Tarjala, a village nearly 10 km west of Kurdistan’s official border. From there, Iraqi Special Forces took the lead, pushing further west toward Mosul.

The meeting point of the two armies has become something of a de facto border. A few short metres are all that separate a Zeravani checkpoint from its Iraqi counterpart on the east-west road between Mosul and Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region. Villagers who have taken shelter at camps for the internally displaced in Kurdistan are given permission slips by the Zeravani to return to their liberated villages but are then, after walking a few steps, rejected by the Special Forces.

“Look,” says a captain manning the Special Forces checkpoint, who refused to provide his name, “this slip is from the Zeravani. We are Iraqi army. They have their rules; we have ours. Sometimes the rules don’t match.”

Indeed, there appear to be no clear rules for how Iraq will sort itself out once the Islamic State is eliminated, nor have the limits to Canada’s involvement in the fight been clearly identified. Defeating ISIS has underpinned Ottawa’s rationale for sending aid to the Kurds, but now that the Kurds have stopped fighting Islamic State, what comes next? The fight for Mosul itself is expected to take weeks, if not months. Canada, if its support remains firmly with the Kurds, will be spectators to that battle.

But Canada’s relationship with the Zeravani also appears to be on shaky ground. While Zeravani commanders laud the contribution Canadian soldiers made during the Mosul offensive, they criticize Canada’s failure to provide the training and materiel they were promised. “The training they gave us was nothing new,” says Ato Zebari, the deputy commander of the Zeravani forces in Khazer. “We went through it expecting they would also provide us weapons. Then they promised they would set up a commando brigade of Zeravani. They said they would equip it and train it. That never happened.”

Zebari’s gripe is not unfounded. During a visit to Khazer in April, Canadian Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance spelled out a plan to transform the Zeravani into an elite fighting force with “the weapons necessary to do the job they need to do.” The goal, he added, was to have the commando force ready for the Mosul offensive. That has not happened and no one knows exactly why, largely because of the secrecy surrounding Canada’s mission.

Defence officials in Ottawa are vague about exactly how that mission will evolve beyond defeating Islamic State. But based on its response to email queries, the emphasis on supporting the Kurds has changed.

“The Government of Canada is responding to the Government of Iraq’s request for military assistance in supporting their efforts to counter the threat presented by Daesh,” officials said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. “We are continuing our planning efforts toward providing equipment to Iraqi Security Forces.”

The Kurds, front and centre during Vance’s April tour of the Zeravani frontlines, were not mentioned.

In the weeks and months ahead, some hard questions will need to be answered. What exactly was Canada’s goal in Iraq? Did officials know they were helping the Kurds build up an army for a future independent Kurdistan? Should that support continue post-ISIS? Canada’s elite soldiers have proven themselves on the battlefield, once again. Now it’s up to the politicians to prove it was worth it.

How Canada Is Indirectly Taking Part In The Battle For Mosul

By: Jonathan Wade, Huffington Post 

While Canada pulled its fighter aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition earlier this year, the Canadian Forces still pull its share on the ground. Providing vital support to Peshmerga fighters through "advise-and-assist" operations, Canada has boots on the ground and is actively taking part in the battle.

As a matter of fact, soldiers from the Canadian Special Operation Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) are working alongside their Kurdish counterparts against ISIL. Deemed a non-combat mission, CANSOFCOM soldiers are constantly moving near the frontline to monitor the progress of the recently-trained Peshmerga fighters.

According to brigadier-general Peter Dawe, deputy commander of CANSOFCOM, the mission on the ground has evolved from defensive to offensive operations. Due to that Canadian operator on the ground often have to exchange fire with ISIL combatants to defend themselves and their allies.

"We are more engaged on the line -- there should be no doubt about that -- and, by extension, the risk has increased to our troops simply by virtue of time spent at the line and the work we're doing now in a more dynamic and fluid environment," Brig-Gen. Dawe said.

During the last few months, Dawe confirmed no Canadian soldiers were wounded even with the recent augmentation of confrontation with ISIL fighters.

Canadian Forces' participation in the Battle of Mosul

Having conducted successful operations in the past, the Kurdish Peshmerga are now actively taking part in the battle of Mosul. That said, it is pretty obvious their Canadian advisers are also taking part in the battle. However, the Canadian soldiers are most likely playing a supporting role such as guiding U.S.-led coalition aircraft, assisting in medical evacuation and by providing a liaison between the Peshmerga and Western forces.

Recently deployed to replace the 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron (SOAS), pilots and ground crew of the 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron will also take part in the Battle of Mosul . Based in Valcartier, Quebec, the 430th is equipped with CH-146 Griffon helicopters and will provide reconnaissance, troops and equipment transport, and will assist in the evacuation of wounded soldiers.

Although Canada is indirectly taking part in the battle of Mosul, its contribution still remains important to the success of the operation. Adding to the ground troops and helicopters, Canada still have a CP-140 Aurora providing intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISR) and a CC-150 Polaris for refueling purposes to the U.S.-led coalition under Operation IMPACT.

Canada is also getting ready to deploy and operate a field hospital equipped with two operating rooms (OR) in the region to treat wounded allied soldiers. Our medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) helicopters will have the ability to extract the wounded soldiers to a Canadian-led field hospital, increasing interoperability between the two elements.

It is my understanding that even if the Trudeau government has been constantly stating there was no combat mission being conducted in Iraq, Canadian soldiers are still moving on the frontline. That said, as a combat veteran of Afghanistan who spent several months embedded with the Afghan National Army, I know vital it is for the success of the operation to have the CANSOFCOM operators on the frontline along the Peshmerga to show our willingness to fight alongside them. By doing so, the Canadian soldiers are earning respect and their working relationship with the Peshmerga is much better.

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Jonathan Wade is a Military and Foreign Affairs Specialist. Combat Veteran of Afghanistan. Specializing on Russia, Canada and the Arctic.

Canadian Special Forces under fire in Iraq battle

By: David Pugliese, National Post 

Canadian special forces came under mortar fire and Canadian commandos tried to save the life of a mortally wounded Kurdish general in the battle for villages near Mosul in Iraq.

Fighting started Sunday as more than 5,000 Kurdish troops began their offensive against the Islamic State to seize a series of villages located about 20 km east of Mosul.

The Canadian base, located on the outskirts of the village of Hassan Shami, was a key location for U.S. and Canadian special forces, along with Kurdish troops, preparing to take part in the operation.

The Canadian military has refused to acknowledge that its special forces are playing a role in the latest fighting, insisting that the commandos are only in Iraq to train, assist and advise Kurdish troops. But their involvement in the battle raises questions about the Liberal government’s claims that Canada is not involved in combat.


Special forces from both the U.S. and Canada were seen early Sunday loading vehicles with heavy machine-guns and anti-tank missiles.

Over a three-hour period, Kurdish positions near the Canadian base came under mortar fire. One round slammed into a Kurdish vehicle near the Canadian base, which is located in a large fortified building, according to Kurds on the scene. Two Kurdish soldiers were reportedly killed in the barrage.

SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty ImagesSmoke billows on the front line as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters hold a position near Hasan Sham village during an operation aimed at retaking areas from ISIL, on May 29, 2016.

Farther away from the Canadian base, the Islamic State used a number of suicide bombers to attack Kurdish positions. Two Kurds, including General Rizgar Agha Siwaily, were wounded.

The first wounded Kurd was taken to the Canadian base and photos provided to Postmedia show Canadian special forces soldiers trying to administer medical aid. Another pickup truck arrived carrying the wounded Agha but the Canadians could not save the senior officer. The photos show the soldiers wearing Canadian flags on their uniforms.

Special forces were also shown in a photo launching a small drone from the back of a pickup truck but it is unclear whether they are American or Canadian.

The mortar attacks continued in the area throughout the day.

The soldiers are from the Canadian Special Operations Regiment from CFB Petawawa in the Ottawa Valley.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the Canadian special forces, who are also directing air strikes, are not on a combat mission.

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance has backed up this position. Vance has noted that Canadian special forces might be attacked by Islamic State forces, return fire, and could be injured in fighting, but that he didn’t consider that to be a combat mission. “I’m the expert on what is combat and what is not,” Vance said this year.

When in opposition, the Liberals accused the Conservative government of running a combat mission with the deployment of 69 Canadian special forces in an advise and assist role in northern Iraq. The Liberal government has since taken on the same mission and increased the number of troops to 200.

In mid-May, the Canadian military sent three helicopters to northern Iraq to support its special forces. The Griffon helicopters, operated by 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron from CFB Petawawa, are to be used to move the commandos around the battlefield as well as transport the wounded for medical treatment.

One Canadian special forces soldier has been killed during the Iraq mission and three others wounded. In March 2015, Sgt. Andrew Joseph Doiron was killed when he and his three fellow soldiers from Petawawa were gunned down by Kurdish troops at a checkpoint in northern Iraq. The shooting was described as a friendly fire incident but the Kurds blamed the Canadians for not properly following procedures. The Canadian military, however, said all proper procedures were followed.

Kurdish government officials say this latest offensive is to set the stage for the retaking of Mosul from the Islamic State.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council said in a statement that its forces had recaptured four villages. Coalition aircraft as well as U.S. Apache helicopters joined in on the attacks against Islamic State forces.

Canada has a refuelling aircraft and Aurora surveillance planes assigned to the Iraq coalition but it is unclear whether they are involved in the offensive around Mosul.

Mosul is the largest Iraqi city under control of the Islamic State. Islamic State forces captured the city in 2014 and have since turned the centre into a fortress.