U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, 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 11 strikes consisting of 11 engagements against ISIS targets:
-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes engaged an ISIS staging area and destroyed six barges and a front-end loader.
-- Near Raqqa, eight strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positions, two mortar systems, an ammunition cache, an ISIS-held building and a weapons cache.
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 14 strikes consisting of 70 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:
-- Near Asad, a strike destroyed a vehicle bomb and a weapons cache.
-- Near Beiji, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and an ISIS sniper team; and destroyed five mortar systems.
-- Near Haditha, a strike destroyed five improvised bombs.
-- Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed a vehicle.
-- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit: and destroyed a weapons cache.
-- Near Mosul, five strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units and an ISIS sniper team; destroyed 11 fighting positions, five mortar systems, three watercraft, two supply caches, two vehicle bombs, a medium machine gun, a heavy machine gun, a rocket-propelled grenade system, an anti-air artillery system, and an ISIS headquarters; damaged 18 supply routes; and suppressed 11 ISIS mortar teams and six ISIS tactical units.
-- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed a fuel cache.
-- Near Tal Afar, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; and destroyed a vehicle bomb facility and a weapons cache.
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.