OTTAWA — A senior military officer says Canadian military aircraft are providing vital intelligence to allies for their own air strikes and other operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
A Canadian air-to-air refuelling plane and two surveillance aircraft have continued to fly hundreds of missions in support of the U.S.-led bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria since the Liberal government withdrew six CF-18s from the region in February.
Brig.-Gen. Shane Brennan, commander of Canada's Joint Task Force-Iraq, says the information gathered by the surveillance planes has been used by allies to conduct bombing missions and ground operations against ISIL.
U.S. and other coalition officials have credited the air campaign with helping to push ISIL back, but there have been concerns about civilian casualties after a series of U.S. strikes around the Syrian city of Manbij in July.
Brennan says the Canadian planes were not involved in identifying targets in Manbij and have instead been flying over northern Iraq in support of the upcoming battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul.
He says Canada is sending a fourth helicopter and a field hospital to the area for the battle.
