Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIS in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Oct. 4, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 39 strikes consisting of 40 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, Coalition military forces conducted 34 strikes consisting of 34 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, A strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.

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

-- Near Raqqa, 30 strikes engaged 16 ISIS tactical units; destroyed 14 fighting positions, two vehicles and a logistics node; and suppressed four fighting positions.

Strikes in Iraq

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

-- Near Qaim, two strikes destroyed an ISIS-held building and a weapons cache.

-- Near Huwija, A strike destroyed an ISIS headquarters and a vehicle-borne bomb.

-- Near Rawah, two strikes destroyed an ISIS-held building and four ISIS boats.

Previous Strikes

Officials also provided details today on 23 strikes consisting of 25 engagements conducted near Raqqa on Oct. 2 for which the information was not previously available. The strikes engaged eight ISIS tactical units, destroyed nine fighting positions and damaged five fighting positions.

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.