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Officials Provide Details of Latest Counter-ISIS Strikes

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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

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 20 strikes consisting of 25 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes destroyed two wellheads.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, 13 strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed six wellheads, three gas-oil separation plants, a vehicle, a fighting position, a vehicle-borne bomb, a weapons storage facility and a tank.

-- Near Manbij, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a tactical vehicle.

-- Near Raqqa, four strikes destroyed three fighting positions, two tunnels, a vehicle repair facility and a tactical vehicle.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 12 strikes consisting of 75 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and an ISIS staging area.

-- Near Mosul, six strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units and an ISIS staging area; destroyed nine fighting positions, four mortar systems, three vehicle-borne bombs, two vehicle bomb factories, two vehicles, a supply cache, an unmanned aerial vehicle launch site, a medium machine gun, an ISIS-held building, a watercraft and a command-and-control node; damaged 11 supply routes and a fighting position; and suppressed two ISIS tactical units and a sniper team.

-- Near Qaim, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed two vehicles.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed an artillery system and two supply caches.

-- Near Tal Afar, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building, a weapons cache, a tactical vehicle, an ISIS headquarters and an improvised weapons factory.

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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