DefenceTalkThe cost of Canada’s six-month bombing mission against the Islamic State group in Iraq was estimated at more than $100 million, according to officials Tuesday. The independent parliamentary budget office put the tally at Can$128.8 million (US$103.8 million) to Can$166.40 million (US$134.1 million). The budget office’s report comes after Defense Minister Jason Kenney said the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/canada-cost-of-fighting-is-group-tops-100-mln-63153/

DefenceTalkBy targeting the Islamic State group with air strikes in Libya, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, having crushed Islamist opponents at home, has become a key ally of the West against jihadists, experts say. His warplanes bombed IS camps and weapons stores in the Libyan city of Derna hours after the Sunni extremists released a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/libya-raids-turn-egypts-sisi-into-key-anti-is-ally-63131/

DefenceTalkPresident Barack Obama said he would not flinch from sending US special forces to kill Islamic State leaders, as he called for Congress to authorize military operations that stop short of a full-scale invasion. Tantamount to a declaration of war, Obama on Wednesday asked lawmakers for formal authority to take the fight to the Islamic […]https://www.defencetalk.com/obama-says-special-forces-could-target-is-leaders-62935/

DefenceTalkSyria will not allow foreign ground troops on its territory to fight the Islamic State group, Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said on Monday. Speaking at a news conference in Damascus, Muallem also said Jordan had not responded to a Syrian request to coordinate efforts against IS after the group killed a captured Jordanian pilot. “So […]https://www.defencetalk.com/syria-rejects-foreign-ground-troops-to-fight-is-62858/

DefenceTalkA squadron of warplanes from the United Arab Emirates arrived Sunday in Jordan to help the kingdom in its fight against the Islamic State group, state media reported. The F-16 fighter jets were deployed at a Jordanian air base along with UAE pilots and technicians, said the kingdom’s official Petra news agency. Jordan and the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/uae-warplane-squadron-lands-in-jordan-to-back-strikes-on-is-62781/

DefenceTalkJordan announced Sunday it conducted dozens of air strikes on the Islamic State group that murdered one of its pilots, as part of an international assault Washington says is beginning to bite. Air Force chief Major General Mansour al-Jobour said the kingdom had launched 56 air raids on IS since Thursday. “On the first day […]https://www.defencetalk.com/jordan-pounds-is-as-air-war-begins-to-bite-62779/

DefenceTalkThe first deliveries of Saudi-funded French weapons to help Lebanon combat jihadists will begin in April, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday. Fabius confirmed the time frame at a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Romain Nadal told reporters. Riyadh pledged $3 billion […]https://www.defencetalk.com/lebanon-to-start-receiving-french-arms-in-april-62804/

DefenceTalkCanada’s opposition leader accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday of having lied when he promised no ground combat alongside airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq. The accusation comes after Canadian special forces exchanged gunfire with Islamic State fighters in the Mideast country in recent days, in the first confirmed ground battle between […]https://www.defencetalk.com/canadas-harper-lied-about-ground-combat-in-iraq-opposition-62050/

DefenceTalkThe number of U.S. troops expected to train Syrian opposition forces “could approach” 1,000, Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters today in a press briefing. While the final number is still being worked out, training could begin as early as spring, Kirby said. The deploying troops would include trainers as well as […]https://www.defencetalk.com/up-to-1000-u-s-troops-to-train-syrian-opposition-62001/

DefenceTalkA team of camouflage-clad Iraqi soldiers lines up near the door of a one-storey house north of Baghdad with rifles ready, preparing to enter and search it. For now, there are no militants inside, and American and Iraqi instructors are on hand to tell them how to position themselves, where to look when they enter […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-trains-iraqis-for-house-to-house-battle-against-is-61839/