Australian fighter jets fly 144 missions against Islamic State Australian air power hits 14 targets Australian special forces could be deployed in Iraq by the end of 'next week' says Vice Admiral David Johnston in an update on the mission against ISIL. PT3M10S http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-3jne2 620 349 November 5, 2014 - 12:46PM Political Correspondent Australian special forces are expected to be deployed to Baghdad within the next week as the final roadblocks to the deployment, which will see diggers advisers join Iraqi troops in the fight against Islamic State, are cleared. And Chief of Joint Operations Vice Admiral David Johnston says Australian forces are prepared to deliver strikes against Australian citizens fighting for Islamic State, also known as ISIL, provided they are a legitimate target. Green light close: Australian Super Hornet fighters. About 200 troops will be armed to defend themselves on the deployment and the soldiers may, if they move to forward operating bases, be more heavily armed and will be able to fire back if attacked. At the same time, Australian fighter jets have flown 144 sorties missions against the Islamic State and dropped 25, 500-pound laser and GPS-guided bombs in October. Bombs have been dropped on 14 ISIL targets, with 11 destroyed and three damaged. On Wednesday, Vice Admiral Johnston also confirmed some terrorists may have been killed in the strikes as the RAAF has participated in and in one case led a mission targeting ISIL. An Australian KC-30 tanker aircraft has now also re-fuelled US jets that may, while on operations, been deployed to strike targets in Syria, rather than Iraq. Vice Admiral Johnston said the final issues holding up the deployment of Australian advisers had been resolved. Our force is ready to deploy. We are in the last stages now of going through the arrangements in order to achieve that deployment," he said. The government of Iraq has asked that we don't reveal the nature of the arrangement between the two countries... There were a series of administrative actions that we had to take and we are right at the end of those and that's why I'm confident that the deployment will occur. After nearly two months of delays, Vice Admiral Johnston said "I am hopeful that within the next week we will achieve it," though Australian forces will not be going on patrol. The Australian Chief of Operations said that as with other similar operations, Australian forces would follow through with its mission regardless of the nationality of enemy combatants. In all our work we look to make sure it's a military objective, that we minimise the impact for those not involved in fighting and if there were Australians that met that criteria...if we saw people that were fighting, they were a legitimate target and the engagement authority was there to do so, we would conduct the mission we were sent there to do. An estimated 71 Australians have fought in Iraq and Syria, with 15 killed. The entry of Australian special forces had been delayed by visa requirements, the need to issue diplomatic passports and by the need to secure the requisite legal protections to stop Australians soldiers being prosecuted under local law if they accidentally kill or injure an innocent Iraqi. Vice Admiral Johnston said that one of the operations had seen Australian fighter planes strike ISIL to help stop it diverting dams in the Fallujah area of Iraq, which had caused loss of water used for power generation, drinking and irrigation. Australia had played a part in stopping that by targeting the earth moving used to create the berm that had diverted the water. There have been a total of 437 strike operations in Iraq by the Coalition. The Australia task group comprises about 400 people, 6 F/A 18 Super Hornets, a Wedgetail command and control aircraft and a KC-30A tanker.