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Australian air strikes in Syria could last "three years": Defense Minister

Xinhua, September 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia is likely to conduct air strikes against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria until 2018, Defense Minister Kevin Andrews revealed on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott revealed that Australia would be expanding its aerial operations into Syria, joining coalition forces in conducting air strikes against IS targets in the war-torn nation.

Andrews said while it was hard to predict just how long the fight would last, he hinted that operations were likely to go on for a "number of years".

"Two, three years. I can't say for exact, exact terms," Andrews told the Nine Network on Thursday morning.

"The reality is that this is going to go on for a number of years."

"We've had some success to date, and with our Coalition partners Canada, the United States, the UK, France, etc, we believe that we can make a real difference."

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been in contact with United States officials overnight, discussing how Australia would contribute to the effort in Syria.

She told the Seven Network she spoke with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry who indicated the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF) would be targeting supply lined and strongholds, with minimum risk of civilian casualty.

"We discussed in detail how these operations would work," Bishop said on Thursday.

Meanwhile Bishop also signaled that refugees could start arriving into Australia from camps in Europe and the Middle East in a matter of "weeks", though, as potential settlers would have to undergo background checks, Bishop said resettlement would likely begin to occur by the end of "this year".

On Wednesday, Australia announced a one-off intake of 12,000 Syrian refugees on top of its existing annual refugee quota of 13, 750.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that "persecuted minorities", and well as "women, children and families" would be priorities for officials bringing in refugees. Endi