SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 20, 2016 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in Syria:
-- Near Manbij, 10 strikes struck six separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed five ISIL fighting positions.
-- Near Mara, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL rocket-propelled grenade system.
Strikes in Iraq
Rocket artillery, and bomber, attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 11 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:
-- Near Beiji, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL mortar system, an ISIL tunnel entrance, an ISIL rocket cache and two ISIL rocket rails.
-- Near Fallujah, two strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 17 ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle, five ISIL heavy machine guns, eight ISIL light machine guns and an ISIL rocket propelled grenade system and denied ISIL access to terrain.
-- Near Mosul, three strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL weapons and foreign fighter support facility and destroyed an ISIL tunnel, two ISIL assembly areas and an ISIL command and control node and suppressed an ISIL rocket firing position.
-- Near Ramadi, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL boat, an ISIL bed-down location and an ISIL weapons cache, and an ISIL staging area.
-- Near Rawah, two strikes struck an ISIL vehicle bomb-making factory and an ISIL improvised weapons factory.
Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do 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. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.
Part of Operation Inherent Resolve
The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.
Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.