Canada promises more training for Kurdish forces

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – The President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Masoud Barzani, met with Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan and an accompanying delegation of security officials on Monday in the town of Pirmam, 30 kilometers north of the regional capital, Erbil.

A statement released on the Kurdish presidency website said the two sides talked about the situation of the ongoing fight against the militant Islamic State group (IS) that was pushed out of the Kurdish Yazidi town of Shingal (Sinjar) in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh last month.

The statement said that Canada's Defence Minister reiterated his country's military support in training and equipping the Kurdish forces, and sending humanitarian aid to the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) and refugees who have found a safe shelter in the Kurdistan Region.

Commending Peshmerga forces' successes on the battlefield, Sajjan presented his condolences to President Barzani and the people of Kurdistan for the fallen Peshmerga soldiers in the fight against the Islamic State.

President Barzani thanked Canada and other members of the U.S.-led International Coalition against IS for their military support and said the confrontation with terror could not be won only on the battlefields, as it had to be challenged ideologically as well, the statement read.

A K24 reporter in Pirmam said the meeting between President Barzani, top Kurdish officials and the Canadian Minister lasted for more than an hour. No press conference was held when the meeting ended.

After the meeting with President Barzani, Kurdish Interior Minister Karim Sinjari and the Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council Masrour Barzani, and Sajjan visited the Khazir frontline, 40 kilometers west of Erbil. Sajjan met with Kurdish Peshmerga commanders who briefed him on the latest military situation in the area, a K24 reporter in Khazir said.

Sajjan arrived in Erbil on an unannounced visit on Sunday. He was in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and met his Iraqi counterpart Khaled al-Obeidi and other officials there.

The Canadian Press, a national news agency, reported Monday that Sajjan's office said the trip to Iraq and Kurdistan was planned before last week's IS assaults in multiple fronts against the Kurdish forces took place.

Canadian Special Forces members who are in Kurdistan on a non-combat training role supported Kurdish Peshmerga forces in repulsing an IS offensive, said Canadian Major-Gen. Charles Lamarre according to the Canadian Press news agency. Canada has around 69 Special Forces soldiers in Kurdistan training the Peshmerga troops. 

Canadian CF-18 fighter jets that have been giving air support to the Kurdish forces since last year, pounded IS positions last week near Mosul. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he plans to withdraw the CF-18s from Iraq in the new year and bolster the training mission instead.