Officials Provide Details of Latest Counter-ISIS Strikes

U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 29 strikes consisting of 85 engagements against ISIS targets, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

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Officials reported details of yesterday’s strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Coalition military forces conducted 20 strikes consisting of 28 engagements against ISIS targets in Syria:

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, four strikes destroyed five ISIS wellheads, two pumpjacks, an oil storage tank and an oil equipment piece.

-- Near Raqqa, two strikes destroyed an ISIS vehicle.

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a fighting positon.

-- Near Tabqah, 13 strikes engaged nine ISIS tactical units; destroyed two fighting positions, two vehicles, a tactical vehicle and a tunnel; and damaged two supply routes.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 57 engagements against ISIS targets in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Haditha, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle-borne bomb and a vehicle.

-- Near Mosul, six strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units; destroyed five mortar systems, three vehicle-bomb factories, three ISIS-held buildings, two anti-air artillery systems, two supply caches, a tactical vehicle, a vehicle and a weapons facility; damaged nine supply routes; and suppressed six ISIS mortar teams.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed two ISIS-held buildings and a supply cache.

-- Near Qaim, a strike destroyed two anti-air artillery systems and two ISIS held-buildings.

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.