Canadian fighters have conducted 20 airstrikes over Iraq and two more over Syria in recent weeks, and their commander is confident that coalition forces are helping both countries make headway against Islamic State forces.
Brig.-Gen. Lise Bourgon held her first conference call Friday since taking over in May as commander of Canada's air detachment in the Middle East.
She said the recent Canadian airstrikes were not co-ordinated with the Syrian government, even though its forces were operating in the area at the time.
Bourgon added that the airstrikes have helped remove ISIS fighters from 20 to 25 per cent of the territory they previously held in Iraq and Syria.
They are also helping to support Iraqi forces break up ISIS supply lines, and provide operational support to forces on the ground.
Iraqi and Kurdish forces have managed to push back ISIS from many parts of Iraq with the help of the airstrikes, but last month ISIS captured Ramadi -- their most significant advance since last year.
Bourgon conceded that Iraqi forces have seen some "setbacks" in recent weeks, but she said the airstrikes are helping to inhibit ISIS' "ability to move and operate at will."
Asked whether any of these small gains will stop ISIS in the long term, Bourgon responded that Canada is doing "what we can" and that "winning takes time."
"Right now, it's not our fight," she said, adding it's up to Syrian and Iraqi forces on the ground to retake territory. Canada's job, she said, it to provide "a stopgap" to buy these forces time to re-group and train new soldiers so they can come back and regain territory.
"We are achieving success on the ground" she said. "…In the short term, success for the coalition is measured in stopping the ISIS advance."
