SOUTHWEST ASIA — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 22 strikes consisting of 59 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Officials reported details of yesterday’s strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 16 strikes consisting of 23 engagements against ISIS targets:
— Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed an ISIS oil storage tank.
— Near Dayr Az Zawr, four strikes destroyed 30 ISIS oil stills, four oil caches and a wellhead.
— Near Raqqa, 11 strikes engaged nine ISIS tactical units and destroyed seven fighting positions, a weapons cache, a supply cache, an anti-air artillery system, a tunnel and an ISIS communications tower.
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of 36 engagements against ISIS targets:
— Near Beiji, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed two vehicles and a staging area.
— Near Fallujah, a strike destroyed an ISIS logistics center.
— Near Kisik, a strike suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.
— Near Mosul, a strike engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed 11 fighting positions, 10 medium machine guns, a rocket-propelled-grenade system and a supply cache; and damaged a fighting position.
— Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.
July 8 Strikes
Officials also reported today the results of July 8 strikes for which details were unavailable at the time of yesterday’s update:
— Near Raqqa, eight strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions, an anti-air artillery system, an ISIS radio tower and communication equipment and damaged an unmanned-aerial-system facility.
— Near Mosul, a strike engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed a heavy machine gun, a fighting position, a medium machine gun and a sniper position.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group’s ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.
The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.
Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect.
For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.
The task force does 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.
