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 by Staff Writers Sydney (AFP) Oct 06, 2014
Australian special forces are ready for action in Iraq, but they await final legal approval, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Tuesday. "Our forces are ready to go," Abbott told reporters. "We are finalising the legal documentation. "I hope that can be done very quickly because it is an absolutely critical mission on which our forces will be embarked to advise and assist Iraqi armed forces." Australia deployed some 600 troops and several aircraft to the United Arab Emirates in mid-September in preparations to join the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State group. The prime minister last week clarified that Australian special forces were "not envisaged" to become directly involved in combat missions but would help Iraqi forces with planning and coordination. "We are already flying combat air patrols in the skies of Iraq," Abbott said Tuesday. But he said he would not put a time limit on how long the legal green-light would take. "We have written to the Iraqis, the Iraqis have written back to us and we now need to consider their response," he said without giving further details. "It's absolutely imperative for the world that we disrupt and degrade the operations of ISIL." Canberra announced Monday that Australian Super Hornet fighter jets had flown their first armed combat mission against Islamic State militants, but did not launch air strikes. The United States, which has deployed 1,600 soldiers to Iraq, said last month that dozens of special forces soldiers had also gone in to advise local personnel. Washington launched the air campaign in August after Islamic State extremists seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, declaring a "caliphate" and imposing a brutal interpretation of Islamic law. US officials said Monday that the military had started flying attack helicopters against the militants in Iraq for the first time, marking an escalation in the air war.
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