U.S., Coalition Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq

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U.S., Coalition Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release


U.S., Coalition Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release
RE: https://www.defense.gov/News/Article...-in-syria-iraq


Called: OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE:

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Feb. 28, 2017 — 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.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Coalition military forces conducted 15 strikes consisting of 18 engagements in Syria:

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, four strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed nine oil refinement stills, two barges, a watercraft, a vehicle and an oil tanker truck.

-- Near Palmyra, two strikes destroyed five tanks.

-- Near Raqqa, nine strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and destroyed two wellheads, two fighting positions, an oil storage tank, an ISIS-held building, an ISIS headquarters, a tunnel, a vehicle and a vehicle bomb.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted 16 strikes consisting of 81 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Baghdad, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building.

-- Near Mosul, five strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and an ISIS staging area; destroyed seven mortar systems, four vehicles, four fighting positions, three ISIS-held buildings, two anti-air systems, two rocket-propelled grenade systems, two vehicle bombs, a supply cache, a vehicle bomb facility and an unmanned aircraft control station; damaged six tunnels and six supply routes; and suppressed 21 mortar teams and an ISIS tactical unit.

-- Near Qaim, 10 strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two vehicle bomb factories, two ISIS media facilities, an improvised explosive device factory, a weapons storage facility, an anti-air artillery system, a vehicle, a fuel storage tank, an ISIS staging facility and an ISIS financial facility.

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.