Officials Provide Details of Latest Strikes Against ISIS

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Nov. 13, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, conducting 39 strikes consisting of 67 engagements Nov. 12 through yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the most recent strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

On Nov. 10 in Syria, coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of nine engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike destroyed an ISIS fighting position.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, seven strikes engaged six ISIS tactical units and damaged a heavy machine gun.

On Nov. 11 in Syria, coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of five engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS vehicle and a fighting position.

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

Yesterday in Syria, coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes consisting of 18 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS tactical vehicle.

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike destroyed an ISIS fighting position.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, seven strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units and destroyed a heavy machine gun, a fighting position and an ISIS vehicle.

Strikes in Iraq

On Nov. 10 in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 21 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Qaim, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building and a missile.

-- Near Ramadi, two strikes destroyed four ISIS tunnels, a weapons cache, an ISIS truck, an ISIS sedan and an ISIS fuel truck.

-- Near Rawa, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS staging area.

-- Near Tuz, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS tunnel, two weapons caches, an ISIS truck and a tunnel entrance.

On Nov. 11 in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted eight strikes consisting of 13 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Qaim, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed an ISIS-held building, an improvised-explosive-device storage facility and five ISIS supply routes.

-- Near Hawija, two strikes destroyed four IEDs.

-- Near Rawa, three strikes suppressed an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building and facilitated effective harassing fire on ISIS targets.

Yesterday in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted a strike consisting of one engagement near Rawa, destroying an ISIS fighting position.

Previous Strikes

Officials also provided details today on nine strikes consisting of 20 engagements in Syria and Iraq for which the information was not available in time for the most recent previous report:

-- On Nov. 5 near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed two ISIS supply routes.

-- On Nov. 5 near Qaim, a strike destroyed four ISIS supply routes.

-- On Nov. 7 near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed eight ISIS supply routes.

-- On Nov. 7 near Qaim, three strikes destroyed four ISIS supply routes.

-- On Nov. 8 near Abu Kamal, a strike facilitated effective counter fire on ISIS targets.

-- On Nov. 9 near Qaim, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building.

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.