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By Fannie Olivier

SHERBROOKE — Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe has indicated his support for military intervention in Syria and Iraq — because there’s no other option.

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He even suggested Tuesday that an independent Quebec would have chosen to take part in the current mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

His position is different from the one he took in 2003 when he opposed Canadian military intervention in Iraq.

Duceppe pointed out at a news conference in Sherbrooke that Canadian forces did not intervene in Rwanda and what followed was a genocide.

“Sometimes in history, there’s no other choice but to intervene in a military manner,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”

The Bloc leader says ISIL’s expansionist goals justify an intervention by Canadian forces. “I think that’s the major difference,” he told reporters.

Canada has deployed military personnel to handle logistics and the training of local forces and has sent planes to bombard the region.