Details of Latest Strikes Against ISIS

U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, conducting 23 strikes consisting of 38 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 17 strikes consisting of 19 engagements against ISIS targets:

  • Near Abu Kamal, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two oil storage tanks, a vehicle and a wellhead.
  • Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed six ISIS oil stills.
  • Near Raqqa, 12 strikes engaged 11 ISIS tactical units and destroyed nine fighting positions, two vehicles and a tactical vehicle.
  • Near Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS command-and-control node and a vehicle.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of 19 engagements against ISIS targets:

  • Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a staging area and a vehicle storage area.
  • Near Qayyarah, three strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and a sniper, and destroyed two recoilless rifles, two ISIS-held buildings and a vehicle.
  • Near Rawah, a strike destroyed a vehicle.
  • Near Tikrit, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle and an ISIS-held building.

July 17 Strikes

Additionally, 10 strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on July 17 that closed within the last 24 hours:

  • Near Raqqa, Syria, nine strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units and destroyed a fighting position and an ISIS command-and-control node.
  • Near Kisik, Iraq, 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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