SOUTHWEST ASIA–(ENEWSPF)–March 6, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, 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 eight strikes consisting of 11 engagements against ISIS targets:
- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes destroyed a wellhead and an oil inlet manifold.
- Near Raqqa, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit, destroyed two vehicles, and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.
- Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes destroyed four tactical vehicles, four ISIS-held buildings, two wellheads, two engineering equipment pieces and a tank.
- Near Manbij, two strikes destroyed a vehicle and an artillery system.
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 72 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government.
- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed an improvised weapons factory.
- Near Mosul, six strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units and an ISIS staging area; destroyed 11 fighting positions, eight mortar systems, seven vehicles, four vehicle-borne bombs, three ISIS-held buildings, two medium machine guns, two command-and-control nodes, two roadblocks, a heavy machine gun, an artillery system and an ISIS checkpoint; damaged 11 supply routes, eight vehicles and two fuel tanker trucks; and suppressed 10 mortar teams and three ISIS tactical units.
- Near Sinjar, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.
- Near Tal Afar, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and an ISIS staging area and destroyed two vehicles, a fighting position and a cave entrance.
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: http://defense.gov
