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U.S., Coalition Continue Strikes Against ISIS

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U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting eight strikes consisting of 61 engagements, 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 four strikes consisting of 56 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed three oil trucks.

-- Near Raqqa, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed two fighting positions and a heavy machine gun.

In addition, officials reported that two May 18 strikes in Raqqa destroyed an ISIS headquarters, an ISIS-held building and an ISIS recruiting station. Details on those strikes had not yet been finalized when that day's strikes were reported yesterday.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of 56 engagements against ISIS targets near Mosul, engaging an ISIS tactical unit; destroying 23 fighting positions, 19 medium machine guns, eight rocket-propelled-grenade systems, five mortar systems, three heavy machine guns, two vehicle-borne bombs, two supply cache, and a vehicle; and damaging three fighting positions and three ISIS supply routes.

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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