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Counter-ISIS Strikes Hit Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

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U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, conducting 24 strikes consisting of 100 engagements against ISIS targets 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

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 21 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Raqqa, seven strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed a vehicle and a fighting position.

Additionally, officials reported, eight strikes were conducted near Raqqa from April 11 into yesterday that engaged an ISIS staging area, a weapons storage cache and a command-and-control node.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 79 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS fuel truck, a mortar system and a weapons cache.

-- Near Mosul, six strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units and destroyed 11 fighting positions, five vehicles, two vehicle bombs, two vehicle-bomb factories, a medium machine gun, a rocket-propelled-grenade system and a mortar system; damaged 15 ISIS supply routes and a fighting position; and suppressed 10 mortar systems, six fighting positions, two artillery systems and a rocket system.

-- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed six ISIS-held buildings and a vehicle bomb factory.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position, a weapons cache and an ISIS fuel truck.

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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