Military Strikes Continue Against ISIS Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Sept. 25, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 85 strikes consisting of 167 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 on Sept. 23, coalition military forces conducted 36 strikes consisting of 50 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Raqqa, 29 strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units and destroyed 20 fighting positions, 22 vehicles, three ISIS headquarters, a command-and-control node; and suppressed three fighting positions.

-- Near Shadaddi, seven strikes destroyed three ISIS headquarters and two ISIS-held buildings, two logistics nodes, a command-and-control node and a vehicle.

In Syria yesterday, coalition military forces conducted 29 strikes consisting of 29 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed a fighting position.

-- Near Raqqa, 27 strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units, destroyed 29 fighting positions and three vehicles and suppressed a fighting position.

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike destroyed an ISIS headquarters.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq on Sept. 23, coalition military forces conducted 14 strikes consisting of 60 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Haditha, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS staging area and a vehicle.

-- Near Huwayjah, 10 strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units and destroyed 18 vehicle-borne bombs, 12 vehicles, five fighting positions, six weapons caches, three heavy machine guns, three vehicle-borne-bomb factories, two tunnel entrances, an improvised explosive device storage facility, a command-and-control node, an ISIS trailer, an ISIS oil storage tank, a mortar system, a tactical vehicle and a recoilless rifle and suppressed two ISIS tactical units and two mortar teams.

-- Near Rawah, two strikes destroyed eight ISIS boats and two command-and-control nodes.

In Iraq yesterday, coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of 28 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Huwayjah, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed seven fighting positions, three command-and-control nodes, two ISIS staging areas, a weapons cache, a front-end loader, a tactical vehicle, a medium machine gun, a tunnel entrance and an ISIS unmanned aerial system and damaged three ISIS supply routes.

-- Near Rawah, three strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a command-and-control node and two ISIS staging areas and damaged four ISIS supply routes.

Additional Strikes

Additionally, three strikes consisting of nine engagements were conducted in Syria and Iraq on Sept. 22 for which the information was not available in time for the Sept. 23 report:

-- Near Abu Kamal, Syria, a strike destroyed an ISIS headquarters.

-- Near Huwayjah, Iraq, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed 230 vehicles, four ISIS containers, two weapons caches, a vehicle-borne bomb, a command-and-control node and an IED facility.

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.