PRESS RELEASE | Dec. 10, 2016
December 10: Military airstrikes continue against ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq
CJTFOIR

December 10, 2016
Release # 20161210-01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOUTHWEST ASIA — On Dec. 9, Coalition military forces conducted 20 strikes against ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, Coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes using attack, bomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery against ISIL targets. Additionally in Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using attack, fighter, rotary, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets.

Syria
* Near Ar Raqqah, four strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and a chemical storage area and destroyed a VBIED decoy, a command and control node, a communications node, a weapons storage facility, and a fighting position.
* Near Ayn Isa, three strikes engaged three ISIL tactical units and destroyed five fighting positions and two VBIEDs.
* Near Dayr Az Zawr, one strike destroyed an ISIL oil well head.
* Near Manbij, one strike destroyed an ISIL headquarters building.
* Near Palmyra, one strike destroyed 20 oil tanker trucks.
Iraq
* Near Mosul, nine strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units; destroyed seven ISIL-held buildings, five vehicles, 10 fighting positions, eight front-end loaders, three mortar systems, two weapon caches, an excavator, an armored vehicle, and a heavy weapons system; damaged 11 supply routes and two ISIL compounds; and suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.
* Near Tal Afar, one strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a front-end loader, two dump trucks, and a tunnel entrance.

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.