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Photo by MEMRI

“The poster was shared across several Telegram channels, including pro-al-Qaida channels which usually do not share material produced by pro-ISIS media outlets,” says a MEMRI analysis.

Eight Canadian Forces helicopters and 250 military personnel are in Mali, primarily to provide emergency medical evacuations to injured peacekeepers and UN staff.

On Friday Canadian foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland announced that Canada would not extend its contribution to the United Nations mission beyond one year, despite pleas from the UN for an extension to bridge a capacity gap.

Canada’s forces are scheduled to depart on July 31 but replacements from Romania are not set to arrive until mid-October. The UN had asked Canada to extend its mission to bridge that gap, a request Canada rebuffed.

“We said we would be in Mali for a year, and that’s a commitment that we will keep,” Freeland told reporters after a peacekeeping conference in New York.

It did not take long for jihadi militants to praise her words.

Al-‘Abd Al-Faqir Media Foundation, a pro-ISIL media outlet, released the two posters celebrating Freeland’s announcement on April 1, according to MEMRI.

Global Affairs Canada declined to comment on the reaction to Freeland’s announcement. “Minister Freeland’s comments from last Friday stand,” said spokeswoman Amy Mills.

The UN mission — called Minusma for Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali — was established in 2013 to support political transition and security under attack by Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida.

There have been 191 fatalities among the UN contingent in the Mali mission since it began in 2013, most of them personnel from African countries.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet approved extending Germany’s military missions in Africa for another year, including the Mali effort.

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