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Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance says Canadian special forces in northern Iraq can count on air support from coalition aircraft in the future. He dismissed concerns from critics of the Liberal government that the withdrawal of the six CF-18s from the combat mission would leave Canadian troops on the ground vulnerable.

As many as 200 Canadian special forces are expected to be involved in training Kurdish troops in northern Iraq. That is up from the current 69 soldiers.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Gen. Jon Vance says Canadian troops in northern Iraq assured of air cover by fighter jets from other nations Back to video

Vance said there is a “myth” that the CF-18s were on call to provide air support to Canadian soldiers. That isn’t true, he noted. Vance noted, for instance, that two French Air Force fighter jets provided support to Canadian special forces during the recent offensive by Islamic State troops.

Canadian CF-18s were involved in pushing back the offensive but they were striking at targets elsewhere.