SOUTHWEST ASIA–(ENEWSPF)–July 3, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 19 strikes consisting of 63 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 18 strikes consisting of 21 engagements against ISIS targets:
- Near Abu Kamal, three strikes destroyed three ISIS front-end loaders, two oil separator tanks and a wellhead.
- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed an ISIS wellhead.
- Near Raqqa, 14 strikes engaged 13 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 10 fighting positions and a mortar system.
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted a strike consisting of 42 engagements against ISIS targets:
- Near Mosul, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed 15 fighting positions, seven medium machine guns and a heavy machine gun; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit and a mortar team.
July 1 Strikes
Additionally, 12 strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on July 1 that closed within the last 24 hours:
- Near Abu Kamal, Syria, a strike destroyed two ISIS oil tanker trucks, an oil trailer and a road grader.
- Near Kisik, Iraq, a strike suppressed an ISIS mortar team.
- Near Mosul, Iraq, a strike destroyed an ISIS-held building and damaged four supply routes.
- Near Raqqa, Syria, five strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units, destroyed a fighting position and a heavy machine gun and suppressed 27 fighting positions.
- Near Shadaddi, Syria, four strikes destroyed two ISIS command-and-control nodes, a staging area and a vehicle-borne-bomb facility.
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