Japan has decided to extend its Air Self-Defense Force(ASDF)'s mission in Iraq until next July, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet is scheduled to endorse the extension in early December, the report said.

Japan's special law on reconstruction aid for Iraq, which was enacted on Aug. 1, 2003, will expire at the end of next July after four years of effective duration.

Japan began to withdraw the Ground Self-Defense Force troops from Iraq in June, however decided at the same time to expand the ASDF's airlift operations to transport personnel and supplies for the United Nations and the multinational forces as an aid measure for reconstruction in Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2006)