U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 44 strikes consisting of 65 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 34 strikes consisting of 43 engagements against ISIS targets:
-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed an ISIS weapons cache.
-- Near Hawl, a strike destroyed an ISIS staging area.
-- Near Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.
-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two improvised explosive devices and a logistics node.
-- Near Raqqa, 29 strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units and destroyed 23 fighting positions, two vehicles, a supply route and an IED; damaged a vehicle; and suppressed three fighting positions.
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes consisting of 22 engagements against ISIS targets:
-- Near Bashir, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle and a weapons cache.
-- Near Huwija, eight strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed nine vehicle-borne IEDs, four vehicles, three weapons caches and an ISIS-held building.
-- Near Ramadi, a strike destroyed an ISIS bunker.
Previous Strikes
Officials also provided details today on 30 strikes consisting of 36 engagements in Syria and Iraq in recent days for which the information was not previously available:
-- Near Raqqa on Oct. 3, a strike destroyed an ISIS communication system.
-- Near Huwija on Oct. 4, a strike destroyed 11 ISIS vehicles, a tunnel and a vehicle-borne IED.
-- Near Raqqa on Oct. 4, 28 strikes engaged 11 ISIS tactical units; destroyed 11 fighting positons, three command-and-control nodes, communication infrastructure, four communication systems and a vehicle-borne IED; and suppressed two fighting positions.
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.