Few know Canada has a base in Kuwait. Fewer still realize that it’s part of a network of international bases assisting the US empire.
On Thursday La Presse reported that Canada’s base in Kuwait was hit during a strike on a US compound. Soon after the US and Israel launched their war of aggression, Iran killed six US soldiers and injured dozens on a base in Kuwait. The March 1 Iranian attack also hit “Camp Canada”, which is part of the US base.
Canadian officials knew of the dangers. The base was also targeted in 2020 after the US assassinated Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
In 2023 Canada’s ambassador to Kuwait told a local media outlet, “We have a permanent base in Kuwait at Ali Al-Salem Airbase which houses about 250 members of the Canadian Armed Forces.” Canada has had an “Operational Support Hub” in Kuwait for fifteen years. (Prior to that Canada had a base in the UAE to assist its war in Afghanistan.)
La Presse quoted a retired general saying the base was “worth its weight in gold. Despite the risks in the region, a permanent Canadian military facility in Kuwait is of tremendous use.”
Under the Pentagon’s direction, the Canadian military has set up a network of international bases over the past fifteen years. As part of the two nation’s initiative to “project combat power,” Canada has established “lily pads” — small military bases — in Kuwait, Senegal, Germany and Jamaica. They’ve also negotiated with Singapore, Tanzania and South Korea over the possibility of establishing small bases within these nations.
Most of the MPs who recently debated Canada’s role in the aggression on Iran probably didn’t know Canada has a base in Kuwait. Or that it’s on a compound with the US military. Or that it was recently struck by Iran.
Failing to inform Parliament or the public that the base was hit reflects the secretive, undemocratic, nature of the Department of National Defence. It took a week of media questioning for the armed forces to admit 200 Canadian soldiers are in the region (I’m not sure we should trust that figure). Now the military is seeking to scrub information from the Internet about its role in West Asia. On Thursday researcher Anthony Fenton posted, “Weird how the DND webpage showing Canadian deployments to the Middle East was updated on March 11 to show that each of the missions ended in November 2024, while a Wayback [internet machine] snapshot from Feb 2025 lists all as ‘present’ missions.”
DND regularly violates the law on releasing information about its operations in the region. It refuses to fulfill access to information requests even though significant elements of Canada’s armed forces, notably special forces, aren’t even covered by the legislation. They are allowed to operate in total secrecy.
Previously, Canada’s base in Kuwait largely assisted a Kurdistan special forces mission in Iraq. Are secretive JTF2 commandos working with their US counterparts there today? A week ago former vice chief of the Defence Staff Mark Norman told CTV that Canada has “long established relationships through our special forces with the Kurds”, which may be a way for Canada to assist the war on Iran.
Many media outlets have reported on the US and Israel arming and assisting Kurdish forces in Iraq in the hopes they will launch a ground invasion into Iran. On Thursday a French soldier in the Kurdish area of Iraq was killed and a half dozen others were injured. An Italian base there was also hit in a strike.
In response to the escalating violence, Italy announced on Friday it was withdrawing its forces from Iraq. Canada should follow suit. It’s time to shutter Canada’s base in Kuwait and withdraw all forces from the region.
Please email the Minister of Defence to say it’s time to close Canada’s base in Kuwait & bring all troops in the region home.
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