Ottawa, April 10 (RHC)-- Canadian military aircraft have conducted a first airstrike inside Syria, pounding what is said to be an ISIL target close to the headquarters of the Takfiri group in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.
The aerial attack was conducted by two Canadian CF-18 Hornet fighter jets, with precision guided munitions. The target was said to be a former Syrian military installation near Raqqa, which lies 440 kilometers northeast of the Syrian capital, Damascus, and which had been taken over by ISIL extremists.
Canada’s mission against ISIL includes two surveillance planes, an aerial refueler and 69 special forces soldiers, who are training and helping Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters push back ISIL terrorists.
Canadian members of parliament voted 142 to 129 last week to extend their country’s military campaign against ISIL in Iraq and expand the mission to Syria. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government estimates the mission will cost
Canadians more than half a billion dollars by March 2016.
According to a Forum Research poll, a majority of Canadians oppose Ottawa’s decision to expand Canadian air strikes against ISIL militants in Iraq to include targets in Syria.
