Coalition Targets ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Dec. 21, 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.

Operation Inherent Resolve

Operation Inherent Resolve - Targeted Operations Against ISIL Terrorists

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

Strikes in Syria

Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 20 strikes in Syria:

-- Near Raqqah, 11 strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units; destroyed three oil storage tanks, two oil wellheads, two oil tanker trucks, two fighting positions, two tactical vehicles, a financial storage facility, an artillery system and a vehicle bomb; and damaged a supply route.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, four strikes destroyed seven oil wellheads and an oil pumpjack.

-- Near Palmyra, five strikes destroyed four ISIL-held tanks, three hardened aircraft shelters, an excavator and an air defense artillery system.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack and fighter aircraft and rocket artillery conducted five strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Huwayjah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL-held buildings, a tunnel, and a supply cache.

 Near Mosul, three strikes destroyed eight fighting positions, five ISIL-held buildings, two land bridges, a vehicle bomb factory, an artillery system, an anti-air artillery piece and a weapons storage facility; damaged 11 supply routes; and suppressed a mortar team and two ISIL tactical units.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed a weapons storage facility.

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.