{"id":106281,"date":"2017-06-24T21:31:10","date_gmt":"2017-06-25T01:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=106281"},"modified":"2017-06-24T21:37:46","modified_gmt":"2017-06-25T01:37:46","slug":"dnd-confirms-aussie-assistance-in-marawi-city-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/06\/24\/dnd-confirms-aussie-assistance-in-marawi-city-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"DND confirms Aussie assistance in Marawi City conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Defense<\/a>
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA — Australia will be providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support to the Philippine military — in the form of two AP-3C Orion aircraft — as fighting with the remaining Maute Group remnants in Marawi City reaches its first month anniversary Friday.<\/p>\n

This was confirmed by Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a statement.<\/p>\n

The aircraft will be coming from the Australian Defense Forces (ADF), he added.<\/p>\n

ISR assistance will be effective for two weeks upon a mutually agreed date by military officials of both countries.<\/p>\n

“We welcome any technical assistance that our allies can provide while the Armed Forces of the Philippines is in the process of developing such capabilities,” Lorenzana said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said the Philippine government has accepted her country\u2019s offer of two AP-3C Orion aircraft to provide surveillance support to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.<\/p>\n

“The regional threat from terrorism, in particular from Daesh and foreign fighters, is a direct threat to Australia and our interests. Australia will continue to work with our partners in South East Asia to counter it,” Payne said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Australia condemned the attacks by Daesh-inspired groups in Marawi City.<\/p>\n

Payne said she and Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana have agreed “the best way to defeat terrorism in our region is for us to work together.”<\/p>\n

Fighting with the Maute Group terrorists started shortly after the military tried to apprehend Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, a staunch ally of the lawless elements, last May 23.<\/p>\n

As of this posting, the death toll in ongoing fighting is placed at 268 Maute Group terrorists, 66 soldiers and police officers and 26 civilians.<\/p>\n

“With these AP-3Cs from the ADF, our troops can benefit from enhanced airborne surveillance of the area any time of the day thereby improving operations on the ground,” the DND chief stressed.<\/p>\n

Lorenzana noted that the AP-3C Orion aircraft will immediately assist in the ongoing operations as soon as the Armed Forces of the Philippines and ADF finalize operational details.<\/p>\n

The operation of these aircraft will not require the embedding of ADF personnel with Filipino troops on the ground.<\/p>\n

The Philippines and Australia have an extensive Defense Cooperation Program that provides the mechanisms for military support, intelligence sharing, and people to people exchanges.<\/p>\n

“In the fight against global terror, we need to act as a community of nations. Any help and support we can get from our friends and allies will always be welcome,” Lorenzana said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA — Australia will be providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support to the Philippine military — in the form …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-breaking","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}