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Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIS in Syria, Iraq

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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.

U.S. Central Command continues to work with partner nations to conduct targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
Operation Inherent Resolve - Targeted Operations Against ISIS Terrorists
U.S. Central Command continues to work with partner nations to conduct targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
Photo By: DoD Graphic
VIRIN: 170113-D-ZZ999-001

Officials reported details of yesterday’s strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Coalition military forces conducted 23 strikes consisting of 36 engagements in Syria:

-- Near Raqqa, 10 strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units; destroyed three fighting positions and three tactical vehicles; and damaged two bridges.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, nine strikes destroyed seven modular oil refineries, two workover oil rigs and a pump jack.

-- Near Palmyra, four strikes destroyed a tactical vehicle, a heavy machine gun and a pump jack and damaged a tank.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 57 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Baghdad, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.

-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed 11 vehicles, a front-end loader and a weapons cache; and damaged a bridge.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed three mortar systems, three vehicles, two improvised bombs, two command-and-control nodes, a supply cache, an artillery system, a front-end loader, an excavator, a tactical vehicle and a medium machine gun; damaged 13 supply routes and a tunnel; and suppressed 13 mortar teams and an artillery team.

-- Near Rawah, a strike engaged two ISIS staging areas and an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an anti-air artillery system and a storage facility.

-- Near Tal Afar, two strikes destroyed an excavator and a vehicle-borne bomb.

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.

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