Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIL in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Dec. 28, 2016 – U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq 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

Attack and fighter aircraft conducted 15 strikes in Syria:

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a tactical vehicle.

-- Near Raqqa, 13 strikes engaged seven ISIL tactical units; destroyed 11 fighting positions, a surface-to-air-missile truck and a radar truck, a heavy machine gun, and a mortar system; damaged two supply routes; and suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed two supply caches.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, bomber, fighter, rotary and remotely piloted aircraft, as well as rocket artillery, conducted four strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Kirkuk, a strike engaged an ISL tactical unit and destroyed a tractor.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit; destroyed four mortar systems, two vehicle-borne-bomb factories, an unmanned-aerial-vehicle facility, two front-end loaders, an ISIL tactical vehicle and an ISIL-held building; damaged a front-end loader and a vehicle-borne bomb; disabled two bridges; and suppressed two ISIL tactical units and a mortar system.

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. 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 ISIL 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 ISIL's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

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