Inherent Resolve Strikes Continue Against ISIL in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, February 17, 2016 – U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, 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

Attack, ground-attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted eight strikes in Syria:

-- Near Hasakah, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL vehicles, four ISIL buildings and an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Hawl, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL buildings and an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes cratered a road ISIL uses.

Strikes in Iraq

Fighter, attack, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 13 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL mortar system.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units, destroying an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL supply cache and suppressing an ISIL mortar position.

-- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL beddown locations, an ISIL command and control node, two ISIL-used bridges, and an ISIL vehicle-bomb facility.

-- Near Sinjar, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL heavy machine gun.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes destroyed five ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL heavy machine gun.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed an ISIL tunnel.

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 ISIL vehicle is one 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 ISIL 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.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.