Security of Israel a key in Canada’s fight against ISIL, says Freeland
OTTAWA — Ensuring the security of Israel is a core component of Canada’s Middle East strategy, including the fight against the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, says Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Part of that strategy, Freeland said Monday, is shoring up Lebanon and Jordan — countries facing a massive influx of refugees from Syria displaced by fighting between various factions in that country’s long civil war.
“In our Middle East strategy, we are also making meaningful contributions to stabilize Lebanon and Jordan not least by welcoming more than 40,000 Syrian refugees to Canada,” Freeland told a major meeting of the World Jewish Congress in New York.
Canada’s assistance to Lebanon and Jordan is part of a three-year, $1.6-billion contribution to dealing with the humanitarian challenge posed by the rise of ISIL and the displacement of millions of people in the Middle East.