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Military Strikes Target ISIS Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

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U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, conducting 14 strikes consisting of 65 engagements against ISIS targets yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

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

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 14 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Tabqah, seven strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed four vehicles, three fighting positions and two tactical vehicles; and suppressed nine ISIS tactical units.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 51 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and damaged a tunnel.

-- Near Mosul, six strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units; destroyed four mortar systems, two fighting positions, a supply cache, a vehicle bomb factory, an ISIS-held building, and a front-end loader; damaged two supply routes; and suppressed 14 ISIS mortar teams and five ISIS tactical units.

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.

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