Ottawa, Ontario - 29 August 2014
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-177 Globemaster III strategic airlifter has completed its first delivery of military equipment, donated by the Republic of Albania, to security forces in Iraq fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Operation IMPACT is Canada’s contribution to international efforts to deliver military supplies, such as small arms and ammunition, to those fighting ISIL. Staged out of locations in the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, the Canadian Air Task Force Iraq (CATFI) is working in concert with our Allies – including the United States and the United Kingdom – and the Government of Iraq to provide this critical aid.
Over one million Iraqis have been displaced by ISIL, which has been carrying out a murderous rampage in northern Iraq since early this year, seizing territory and systematically killing children, women and men. The delivery of these military supplies to the security forces protecting the displaced Iraqis and fighting ISIL will help improve the precarious security situation in the country. Left unchecked, ISIL is a threat not only to peace and security in the region, but to global security as well.
Canada also deployed a CC-130J Hercules transport aircraft to the region, and it will support this delivery effort.
