Coalition Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Sept. 27, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 48 strikes consisting of 54 engagements, 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

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 37 strikes consisting of 38 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed five vehicles.

-- Near Raqqa, 35 strikes engaged 15 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 26 fighting positions, four vehicles, four ISIS supply routes and a heavy machine gun and suppressed five ISIS tactical units.

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 11 strikes consisting of 16 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Huwijah, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions, two vehicle-borne bombs, two vehicles and two improvised explosive devices.

-- Near Qaim, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS headquarters, an IED and a vehicle.

-- Near Rawah, five strikes destroyed two ISIS-held buildings, a vehicle-borne bomb, a vehicle-borne-bomb factory and a vehicle-borne-bomb storage facility and damaged an ISIS supply route.

Previous Strikes

Additionally, five strikes consisting of 14 engagements were conducted in Syria and Iraq on Sept. 25, for which the information was not available in time for the Sept. 26 report:

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, Syria, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle, a fighting position, a heavy machine gun and an IED.

-- Near Huwijah, Iraq, two strikes destroyed 10 vehicles, six ISIS boats, three fighting positions, a command-and-control node, a tactical vehicle and a dump truck and damaged a fighting position.

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.