SOUTHEAST ASIA – INTERNATIONAL – U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 23 strikes in Syria:
— Near Ayn Isa, a strike destroyed a repeater station.
— Near Dayr Az Zawr, five strikes destroyed eight oil pumpjacks, six oil refinement stills, three excavators and two cranes.
— Near Palmyra, a strike destroyed an ISIL-held tank.
— Near Raqqa, 15 strikes engaged five ISIL tactical units; destroyed six oil refinement stills, three supply caches, two bridges, two artillery systems, a vehicle bomb, a bulldozer, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a roadside bomb, a dump truck, a pontoon bridge, a tank and an armored vehicle; and damaged a supply route.
— Near Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.
Strikes in Iraq
Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft as well as rocket artillery conducted 11 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:
— Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL-held building, a vehicle bomb and a front-end loader.
— Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed a vehicle bomb storage facility.
— Near Mosul, five strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units; destroyed three ISIL-held buildings, two vehicles, two mortar systems, a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, a vehicle bomb staging facility and a vehicle bomb; damaged 29 supply routes; and suppressed an ISIL tactical unit and a mortar team.
— Near Rawah, two strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL-held buildings and a vehicle bomb.
— Near Sinjar, two strikes destroyed three tunnel entrances and two ISIL fighting positions.
Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group’s ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.
Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
