U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 25 strikes consisting of 31 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 17 strikes consisting of 19 engagements against ISIS targets:
-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed an ISIS well-head.
-- Near Raqqah, 16 strikes engaged 11 ISIS tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions, an anti-aircraft artillery system, a logistics node, a heavy machine gun, a vehicle and an improvised explosive device.
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of 12 engagements against ISIS targets:
-- Near Bashir, a strike destroyed a vehicle and an IED.
-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three staging areas, two storage areas and a mortar system.
-- Near Huwayjah, three strikes destroyed three ISIS oil stills and two weapons caches.
-- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building.
-- Near Qaim, a strike destroyed a vehicle-borne-bomb facility, an ISIS headquarters and an ISIS checkpoint.
-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed an ISIS staging area.
Previous Strikes
Additionally, 26 strikes consisting of 42 engagements were conducted in Syria and Iraq on Aug. 11-12 that closed within the last 24 hours.
-- On Aug. 11, near Abu Kamal, Syria, a strike destroyed a weapons cache.
-- On Aug. 12, near Raqqa, Syria, 21 strikes engaged 16 ISIS tactical units and destroyed a fighting position, an anti-aircraft artillery system and a mortar system.
-- On Aug. 12, near Kisik, Iraq, a strike suppressed a mortar team.
-- On Aug. 12, near Tal Afar, Iraq, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed a rocket system, a staging area, a vehicle-borne-bomb facility, a vehicle-borne bomb, a storage area and a supply cache; and suppressed a mortar team.
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.