PRESS RELEASE | Oct. 16, 2016
October 15: Military airstrikes continue against ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq
CJTFOIR
October 15, 2016
Release # 20161015-01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SOUTHWEST ASIA – On Oct. 14, coalition military forces conducted 18 strikes against ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes using attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets. Additionally in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 11 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using attack, bomber, fighter, rotary, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets.
The following is a summary of the strikes conducted against ISIL since the last press release:
Syria
* Near Abu Kamal, two strikes destroyed 19 ISIL oil tanker trucks and two oil well heads.
* Near Al Shadaddi, one strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.
* Near Ar Raqqah, one strike destroyed an ISIL oil pump jack.
* Near Ayn Isa, one strike engaged an ISIL headquarters building and a staging area.
* Near Mar’a, one strike destroyed an ISIL improvised explosive device.
* Near Palmyra, one strike destroyed two ISIL vehicles.
Iraq
* Near Al Huwayjah, one strike engaged an ISIL headquarters building.
* Near Mosul, six strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and a media center; destroyed five rocket rails, four fighting positions, two supply caches, two vehicles, an anti-air artillery system, an ISIL-held building, a mortar system, and a headquarters building; damaged two T-walls; and suppressed another mortar system.
* Near Qayyarah, one strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL-held building, an ISIL vehicle, and a weapons cache.
* Near Sinjar, one strike engaged an ISIL media center.
* Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes engaged an ISIL weapons storage facility and a headquarters building.
Strike assessments are based on initial reports. All aircraft returned to base safely.
A strike, as defined in the CJTF releases, means one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative effect for that location. So having a single aircraft deliver a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of buildings and vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making that facility (or facilities) harder or impossible to use. Accordingly, CJTF-OIR 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. The information used to compile the daily strike releases is based on ‘Z’ or Greenwich Mean Time.
Ground-based artillery fired in counter-fire or in fire support to maneuver roles are not classified as a strike as defined by CJTF-OIR.
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 group’s ability to project terror and conduct operations. Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Iraq include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Syria include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.