SOUTHWEST ASIA–(ENEWSPF)–March 5, 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 the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of eight engagements in Syria:
- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed a weapons storage facility.
- Near Raqqah, two strikes engaged an ISIS staging area and damaged a supply route.
- Near Dayr Az Zawr, five strikes destroyed five oil well heads and an oil inlet manifold.
Strikes in Iraq
Coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of 49 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:
- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and a rocket-propelled grenade team; destroyed nine fighting positions, a heavy machine gun, an ISIS-held building and a mortar system; damaged 26 supply routes; and suppressed 15 mortar teams.
- Near Rawah, two strikes destroyed a fuel storage tank and an ISIS-held building.
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
