Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIS in Syria, Iraq

Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIS in Syria, Iraq
May 19, 2017 in Security
U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on Wednesday, conducting 32 strikes consisting of 101 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported yesterday.

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 22 strikes consisting of 32 engagements against ISIS targets:

Near Abu Kamal, seven strikes destroyed seven ISIS wellheads, four fighting positions, a front-end loader and a mortar system.
Near Hawl, a strike destroyed a mortar system and a fighting position.
Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes destroyed four ISIS fuel trucks and a vehicle.
Near Raqqa, 11 strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units; destroyed five fighting positions, three mortar systems, three vehicles, two ISIS fuel trucks and an ISIS headquarters; and damaged an ISIS supply route.
Additionally, two strikes were conducted May 16 in Syria for which details were not finalized in time for yesterday’s report on that day’s strikes:

Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed four items of oil processing equipment.
Near Raqqa, a strike damaged an ISIS supply route.
Near Tabqah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.
Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes consisting of 69 engagements against ISIS targets:

Near Mosul, six strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed eight fighting positions, four medium machine guns, four mortar systems, four vehicle-borne bombs, four rocket systems, three vehicles, three rocket-propelled-grenade systems, two ISIS-held buildings, two heavy machine guns, two ISIS staging areas, a supply cache, an anti-air artillery system, an ISIS fuel truck, a vehicle-borne-bomb facility and a fighting position; damaged 16 supply routes and four rocket systems; and suppressed two mortar teams and an ISIS tactical unit.
Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed a tank.
Near Tal Afar, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an unmanned-aircraft-system factory, an improvised-explosive device factory and an ISIS staging area.
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.

(Source: US Dept of Defense)