The Cabinet on Friday approved plans to extend the Air Self-Defense Force mission in Iraq through the end of July, the government's chief spokesman said, despite a grim U.S. report on the deteriorating situation in the country.

The ASDF has been airlifting U.N. and coalition personnel and supplies into Baghdad and other Iraqi cities from nearby Kuwait since earlier this year as part of efforts to support the reconstruction of Iraq.

The Cabinet decision allows an extension of the mission, which ends in mid-December, through July 31, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said.