OTTAWA, Aug. 9 -- Canada will send additional 20 police officers to Iraq to help support stability in the country, according to the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wednesday.

The Canadian police officers will help re-establish a local police presence in newly liberated areas from Daesh and deliver training courses for Iraqi police officers. There are some 600,000 Iraqi police officers, of whom 10,000 to 12,000 are women.

In the areas occupied by Daesh (IS group), 85 percent to 100 percent of police infrastructure was destroyed.

Canadian police are being deployed through the Global Coalition against Daesh, including to the Italian-led Carabinieri police training mission.

On February 8, 2024, Canada announced its strategy to address the crises in Iraq and Syria, which includes support for local security forces and for law enforcement capacity building and training. Up to 150 Canadian police officers are sent to join peace-support operations and stabilization in the region.