麻豆传媒 has learned that Canadian-backed Kurdish forces have spent the past 48 hours clearing the way to take back Mosul, the last major stronghold of ISIS and its de facto capital in Iraq.
The Peshmerga spent Sunday and Monday reclaiming a dozen villages near Iraq鈥檚 second-biggest city, sources told CTV鈥檚 Mercedes Stephenson.
The Canadian Special Forces helped the Kurdish troops plan the operation and remained close enough to the combat that they could see the fighting and provide real-time advice -- but they were not on the frontline.
No Canadian soldiers were injured.
David Fraser, a former NATO commander in Afghanistan, called Mosul 鈥渢he most important objective鈥� for the U.S.-led coalition.
ISIS fighters took the city in June 2014, despite being vastly outnumbered by Iraqi soldiers.
Fraser said taking Mosul back will 鈥渄emonstrate to the world that (ISIS) is losing ground.鈥�
In fact, seized by ISIS has already been taken back since coalition airstrikes began on Aug. 8, 2014.
Canada was contributing to those airstrikes until February, when the Liberals pulled Canada鈥檚 CF-18 fighter jets, while at the same time tripling the number of Special Forces trainers on the ground.
At the time, Interim Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose called the withdrawal from combat a 鈥渟hameful step backward.鈥�
More than 3.2 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes due to the ISIS, according to information gathered by the International Organization for Migration.
With files from The Associated Press and a report from CTV鈥檚 Mercedes Stephenson
