Strikes Continue in Effort to Defeat ISIS in Syria, Iraq

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 31, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting eight strikes consisting of 14 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

Coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of four engagements against ISIS targets in Syria:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units, destroying a vehicle and an ISIS headquarters.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of 10 engagements against ISIS targets near Qaim, Iraq. The strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed an ISIS vehicle, a staging site and a mortar firing position and damaged 13 ISIS supply routes.

Previous Strikes

Officials also provided details today on two Oct. 29 strikes consisting of four engagements in Syria for which the information was not previously available:

-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and damaged an ISIS headquarters.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.

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.