Strikes Continue in Effort to Defeat ISIS

Strikes Continue in Effort to Defeat ISIS
August 9, 2017 in Security
U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on Monday, conducting 35 strikes consisting of 42 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 29 strikes consisting of 36 engagements against ISIS targets:

Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed an improvised-bomb factory.
Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes destroyed seven ISIS wellheads and a weapons cache.
Near Raqqa, 25 strikes engaged 17 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 37 fighting positions, two command-and-control nodes, two weapons caches, two vehicles and a weapons depot.
Strikes in Iraq

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

Near Qaim, a strike destroyed a vehicle-borne-bomb supply site.
Near Bashir, a strike destroyed three ISIS oil stills.
Near Kisik, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two vehicles, a tractor and a silo.
Near Rawah, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle and an ISIS-held building.
Aug. 6 Strikes

Officials also reported results today of 16 Aug, 6 strikes consisting of 28 engagements for which details were unavailable at the time of yesterday’s report:

Near Raqqah, 12 strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positions, a mortar system, an anti-air artillery system and a vehicle-borne bomb.
Near Huwayjah, Iraq, a strike destroyed two ISIS oil stills and a refinery.
Near Qaim, two strikes destroyed 12 ISIS oil stills and a vehicle-borne-bomb factory.
Near Kisik, a strike suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.
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)

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