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Officials Provide Details of Latest Counter-ISIS Strikes 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 the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of five engagements in Syria:

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed a wellhead and a pumpjack.

-- Near Raqqa, four strikes destroyed an ISIS training camp, an ISIS-held building, a weapons storage facility and a vehicle bomb factory.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of 62 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units; destroyed 19 fighting positions, four supply caches, four mortar systems, four vehicle bombs, three tunnels, two recoilless rifles, two vehicle bomb factories, an ISIS-held building, a command-and-control node and a barge; damaged 10 supply routes and two tunnels; and suppressed 14 mortar teams and three ISIS tactical units.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed a tactical vehicle.

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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