Canada is extending its military mission in Iraq and the Middle East for another year. Defence Minister Anita Anand announced the 12-month extension on Thursday evening, only hours before the current mandate was set to expire. It comes even as Canada has steadily reduced its military footprint in the region as the focus in Iraq, in particular, has shifted from defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to countering Iran’s growing influence. The Canadian Armed Forces, which first deployed troops to Iraq in October 2014 as ISIL threatened to take over the country and neighbouring Syria, previously had a high of more than 800 soldiers in the region. The Canadian mission at different times included fighter jets, transport and surveillance aircraft, helicopters as well as military trainers and special forces troops working alongside Kurdish and Iraqi forces as they fought ISIL. But the mission has since shrunk in …