SOUTHWEST ASIA–(ENEWSPF)–February 20, 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
Coalition military forces conducted 16 strikes consisting of 29 engagements against ISIS targets in Syria:
- Near Bab, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.
- Near Shadaddi, three strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed two fighting positions and a vehicle.
- Near Raqqa, eight strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units and destroyed two ISIS headquarters, a vehicle, a command and control node, a vehicle bomb, a vehicle bomb facility, an artillery system, and a tunnel.
- Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes destroyed seven oil wellheads.
- Near Palmyra, a strike destroyed an anti-air artillery system.
Strikes in Iraq
Coalition military forces conducted 13 strikes consisting of 63 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
- Near Haditha, a strike destroyed five connexes.
- Near Huwayjah, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.
- Near Mosul, six strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and two ISIS staging areas; damaged 15 supply routes; suppressed nine mortar teams and an artillery team; and destroyed five mortar systems, four vehicles, three supply caches, three artillery systems, two command and control nodes, an ISIS headquarters, a bomb-making facility, a heavy machine gun, a logistics node and a fighting position.
- Near Rawah, two strikes destroyed two vehicle bomb facilities and an ISIS-held building.
- Near Taji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.
- Near Tal Afar, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building and an excavator.
Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is a strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIS to use.
Accordingly, officials said, they do 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. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIS terrorist group and the threat it poses to Iraq, Syria, the region and the wider international community. The destruction of targets in Syria and Iraq further limits ISIS’ ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.
Source: http://defense.gov
