SOUTHWEST ASIA–(ENEWSPF)–June 22, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 20 strikes consisting of 112 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 14 strikes consisting of 26 engagements against ISIS targets:
- Near Raqqa, 14 strikes engaged 14 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 16 fighting positions, three vehicles and an ammunition cache.
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of 86 engagements against ISIS targets:
- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.
- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and a sniper; destroyed 35 fighting positions, 10 medium machine guns, seven rocket-propelled grenade systems, six heavy machine guns, five vehicles, three vehicle-borne bombs, two command-and-control nodes, a mortar team and an unmanned aerial system launch site; damaged two ISIS supply routes; and suppressed a mortar team.
- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed a front-end loader.
June 20 Strikes
Additionally, three strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on June 20 that closed within the last 24 hours.
- Near Raqqa, Syria, two strikes damaged eight fighting positions.
- Near Mosul, Iraq, a strike suppressed five mortar teams.
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
