ERBIL, IRAQ—It’s fitting that the schoolhouse looks like a small fortress.

For two days in December, this was where Canadian special operations forces helped local Kurdish fighters repel a brazen offensive by Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL.

In the history of Canadian special operations forces, few stories have been told. But the Star is able to tell this one through interviews with senior Canadian, American and Kurdish commanders, adding new details to what Defence officials had previously disclosed.

The revelations provide a reality check on the threats facing Canadian soldiers in a mission that, while billed as “noncombat” by politicians and commanders alike, still involves engagements with a dangerous and determined enemy.

In this case, hundreds of Daesh fighters burst through a Kurdish peshmerga line one afternoon using vehicle-borne bombs, suicide attacks and an armoured bulldozer.

Cue the Canadians.

The attack began at 4 p.m. on Dec. 16 west of Erbil.

Daesh launched assaults on several points along the peshmerga line in their biggest offensive in months. Makeshift armoured cars packed with explosives — a “devastating” weapon in the words of one Canadian commander — breached the earth berms and barbed wire that protected the peshmerga positions.

“They come from five directions,” said Brig.-Gen. Dedawan Khorsheed, a top peshmerga soldier in the Canadian sector.

The attack was bold — and a surprise.

“We can’t know and see everything that is happening out there,” said Maj.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, who heads the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. “ISIL is smart, they are an adaptive enemy. They have learned what some of our capabilities are and they move forces very judiciously around those capabilities,” he told the Star in an interview at the Canadian military post. The Star and CTV News were recently granted exclusive access to the mission in northern Iraq, where Canadian special operations forces have been mentoring peshmerga troops since the fall of 2014.

In the Canadian sector, the Daesh offensive advanced several kilometres past the peshmerga line, allowing the militants to occupy Tal Aswad, a small village south of the main highway connecting Erbil and Mosul.

In the aftermath, there was “some chaos and some pandemonium,” Rouleau said.

Canadian troops were not on the front line for the attack. Back at their headquarters, special operations soldiers met with peshmerga commanders to make plans to retake the lost ground.

“We needed assistance from the Canadian forces. We did ask them if they could help us because it was a big fight,” Khorsheed said, speaking through an interpreter.

A sergeant initially led the planning on the Canadian side, working opposite a Kurdish general. Rouleau said that speaks volumes about the capabilities of special operations soldiers.

“People like him are sent into missions with very little leadership on top of them because they are very highly trained, carefully selected, groomed to be leaders. They do things that very few people at their rank level do in the Canadian Forces.”

The Canadians rallied resources, including surveillance aircraft to provide “eyes in the sky” and help sort out who was who on the battlefield.

“It was nighttime when it happened, so you can imagine ISIS and Kurds are very, very close to each other,” Rouleau said.

The weather added to the confusion — it was foggy and visibility was poor. “We could not even see in front of us,” said Khorsheed, who took part in the battle.

The Kurdish commanders and a small group of Canadians moved to the unfinished schoolhouse near Tal Aswad that would become the starting point for the counterattack.

Between five and 10 Canadian special forces soldiers — a mix of snipers and machine gunners — made a base in the schoolhouse.

Several hundred Kurdish soldiers with Kalashnikov machine guns responded to a call for reinforcements. They gathered behind the school. From there they would advance on the Daesh militants under covering fire from the Canadians. Coalition fighter jets would provide supporting airstrikes.

The counterattack launched the next morning.

“My guys set up in the school to provide covering fire onto the enemy in Tal Aswad. That basically allowed the Kurds to cross what we call a line of departure,” Rouleau said.

By 11 a.m., the Daesh fighters had been repelled and the defensive line re-established.

“It was our ability to neutralize the fire coming from the village, our positions in the schoolhouse, that made all the difference,” Rouleau said.

A military physician’s assistant saw the human toll of the battle — 104 patients in 20 hours suffering blast injuries, gunshot wounds and traumatic amputations.

“He was trying to save lives immediately and make sure people were stable enough to get medically evacuated to Erbil. Lots of these people wouldn’t have survived the ambulance ride had they not been stabilized,” Rouleau said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“Apparently after every four or five patients they had to squeegee out the floor because there was that much blood.”

Twenty-two peshmerga soldiers were killed, including two senior officers. Khorsheed said 250 Daesh fighters died along the line of their offensive.

No Canadians were injured. Still, the fighting underscored that the advise-and-assist mission of Canadians and Americans in northern Iraq cannot be easily pigeonholed as either combat or training.

Indeed, a U.S. special forces soldier was killed earlier this month after Daesh militants broke through peshmerga lines north of Mosul, using tactics similar to those used in the December assault.

Canadian commanders stressed that the special operations forces involved in the December attack were not “principal combatants.” Still, commanders say the risk to special operations troops is expected to grow over the coming months as the military triples the number of trainers it has on the ground — to just over 200, up from 69 now.

“I want Canadians to know that we will be involved in engagements as we defend ourselves or those partners whom we are working with,” Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of defence staff, said in February as the new mission was rolled out.

The Canadian contribution proved crucial in December.

“I’m very proud of the performance by Canadian SOF (special operations forces). They responded very well,” said Col. Andrew Milburn of the U.S. marines, who commands coalition special forces in Iraq.

“Not an exaggeration to say there would have been a significant Daesh breakthrough of the line if Canadian SOF hadn’t been where they were and reacted in the way that they did.”

Daesh turns to drones

ERBIL, IRAQ—Daesh militants are using off-the-shelf drones equipped with cameras to spot targets and hone their mortar and rocket fire.

The technology has become increasingly important for the militants as ground operations by local peshmerga fighters and allies such as Canada have succeeded in pushing back Daesh positions.

When Canadians first arrived here in the fall of 2014 to begin their training mission, Daesh fighters were close to the positions held by peshmerga soldiers.

The Daesh forces have since been forced back — out of easy visual range. As a result, they have begun utilizing the same drones that have proven popular among photographers and real estate agents.

Only in this case, Daesh extremists are using the drones to hone their fire.

That has increased the risks of indirect fire, mortar and rocket attacks launched by militants without direct line of sight.

Col. Andrew Milburn, the U.S. Marine who commands coalition special operations forces in Iraq, said the use of drones drives home the “paradox” of the enemy they face.

“There’s country bumpkins and there’s very clever dudes,” he told the Star, adding that Daesh are “technically, very competent.”

While the quality of Daesh rank-and-file soldiers has suffered as the fight has dragged on, the “middle level management” in the organization is “very, very proficient,” Milburn said.

—Bruce Campion-Smith

Read more about: