Coalition Forces Continue Attacks on ISIL Targets in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, December 25, 2015 — 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, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in Syria:

-- Near Ayn Isa, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Raqqah, two strikes destroyed two ISIL excavators.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, one strike struck an ISIL crude oil collection point.

-- Near Mara, three strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions and wounded an ISIL fighter.

-- Near Manbij, five strikes struck four separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL vehicles and an ISIL fighting position and wounded two ISIL fighters.

Strikes in Iraq

Rocket artillery and attack, fighter and bomber aircraft conducted 19 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Baghdadi, three strikes struck an ISIL cave complex, an ISIL staging facility and an ISIL staging area and destroyed three ISIL buildings.

-- Near Huwayjah, one strike destroyed an ISIL trench system.

-- Near Kirkuk, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Makhmur, one strike suppressed an ISIL mortar firing position.

-- Near Mosul, seven strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 13 ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL vehicles, an ISIL heavy machine gun, five ISIL rockets, four ISIL bunkers, an ISIL command and control node and an ISIL assembly area and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.

-- Near Ramadi, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions, seven houses ISIL had rigged with explosives, three ISIL staging areas, three ISIL buildings, two ISIL tunnels, an ISIL homemade explosives cache and an ISIL vehicle-borne bomb and denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Sinjar, one strike destroyed 10 ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Tal Afar, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Albu Hayat, one strike struck an ISIL staging area.

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, 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.