U.S., Coalition Continue Strikes to Defeat ISIS

U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 31 strikes consisting of 41 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 25 strikes consisting of 32 engagements against ISIS targets:

• Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes destroyed three ISIS supply routes.
• Near Raqqa, 22 strikes engaged 15 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 20 fighting positions, an improvised explosive device, ISIS engineering equipment, a logistics node and a command-and-control node.

Strikes in Iraq

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

• Near Huwayjah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three vehicle-borne-IED facilities.
• Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a staging area and a vehicle.
• Near Kisik, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two command-and control-nodes and an IED factory.
• Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.
• Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed three vehicle-borne-IED facilities.

Other Recent Strikes

Officials also reported results today from nine other recent strikes consisting of 17 engagements for which details were unavailable at the time of yesterday's report:

• Near Raqqa, an Aug. 6 strike destroyed 10 ISIS fighting positions and two mortar systems.
• Near Raqqa, six Aug. 7 strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions, an ISIS communications tower and a mortar system.
• Near Tal Afar, two Aug. 7 strikes destroyed two IED facilities and a vehicle-borne-IED factory and suppressed five ISIS mortar teams.

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)