Airstrikes continue but DND slips into silent mode during election campaign

OTTAWA – Canadian warplanes have conducted 29 air strikes against Islamic State positions and units, including one in Syria, during the last month.

National Defence has not held any public briefings about the war against extremists since July 9 and the latest figures were compiled by The Canadian Press using a list on the department’s web site.

The lone mission in Syria took place on July 30 in the town of Al Bukamal, which is just across the border with Iraq, and was aimed at a compound where Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant fighters gather.

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Since the expansion and extension of the Canadian bombing campaign last spring, CF-18 jets have conducted fewer than a dozen missions against ISIL on Syrian territory, even though it was a prominent argument for the Harper government’s continuation of the combat mission.

U.S.-led coalition allies, on the other hand, have been conducting up to four strikes a day into territory that Washington says has been ceded to Islamic extremists by Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime.

National Defence was largely silent about the campaign in the weeks leading up to the election call, but says now that unless something extraordinary happens, it will not provide public updates on the mission until after Oct. 19.