Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq

 SOUTHWEST ASIA, Sept. 15, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 19 strikes consisting of 30 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Operation Inherent resolve

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 16 strikes consisting of 17 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed two vehicles.

-- Near Raqqa, 14 strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units; destroyed seven fighting positions, three vehicles and a command-and-control node; and suppressed two fighting positions.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted three strikes consisting of 13 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Huwayjah, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed three ISIS headquarters, two weapons caches, two vehicle-borne bombs, two fighting positions, a command-and-control node, a mortar system, a heavy machine gun and a munitions cache.

-- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed a command-and-control node.

Previous Strikes

Additionally, nine strikes consisting of 19 engagements were conducted in Syria and Iraq on Sept. 12-13 that closed within the last 24 hours.

-- On Sept. 12, near Raqqa, Syria, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.

-- On Sept. 13, near Huwayjah, Iraq, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed four tunnel entrances, two vehicle-borne bombs and an ISIS-held building.

-- On Sept. 13, near Raqqa, Syria, five strikes destroyed four vehicles, three fighting positions and two logistics nodes.

-- On Sept. 13, near Rawah, Iraq, a strike destroyed an ISIS front-end loader.

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.