Canadian troops leave CFB Trenton for Kuwait

Canadian forces members board an Airbus CC-150 Polaris, from CFB Trenton, in Trenton, Ont., on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014. (Lars Hagberg / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

A team of approximately 85 Canadian Armed Forces members is heading to the Middle East as part of Canada's fight against ISIS militants in Iraq.

The Theatre Activation Team left from Canadian Forces Base Trenton on Thursday morning as part of the Operation IMPACT deployment.

The team will help set up a camp in Kuwait that will serve as a base for Canada's aerial missions into neighbouring Iraq.

The troops will follow the flight path of a supply-laden C-17 military transport that departed from CFB Trenton on Wednesday.

The team that left Thursday will help with infrastructure and logistics before the arrival of nearly 600 Canadian troops headed there as part of the mission. Canadian troops will join U.S. and British forces in the country that borders southern Iraq.

Canada will also be sending six CF-18 fighter jets, two surveillance aircraft, and one air refuelling plane once the infrastructure is in place.

On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said he's grateful to the Kuwait government for hosting Canadian forces.

Speaking from Kuwait, he said that ISIS had "directly threatened both Canada and Kuwait."

Canadian Forces will be in a position to strike during the last week of October, Defence Minister Rob Nicholson said Saturday.

Nearly 70 Canadian soldiers are already in northern Iraq, where they are working with local forces that are battling ISIS extremists.

With files from CTV News' Mercedes Stephenson