PRESS RELEASE | Dec. 30, 2016
December 30: Military airstrikes continue against ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq
CJTFOIR

December 30, 2016
Release # 20161230-01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOUTHWEST ASIA — On Dec. 29, Coalition military forces conducted 18 strikes against ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, Coalition military forces conducted 10 strikes using attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets. Additionally in Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted eight strikes coordinated with and in support of the government of Iraq using attack, bomber, fighter, rotary, and remotely piloted aircraft as well as rocket artillery against ISIL targets.

Syria
. Near Abu Kamal, three strikes destroyed three oil well heads and a oil tanker truck.
. Near Al Shadaddi, one strike suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.
. Near Ar Raqqah, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units; destroyed a command and control node, a weapons cache, and a fighting position.
. Near Manbij, one strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.
. Near Palmyra, three strikes destroyed three ISIL-held artillery systems, a crane, a heavy machine gun, and a tank.

Iraq
. Near Al Huwayjah, one strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL-held building.
. Near Al Qaim, three strikes destroyed a VBIED facility, an IED factory, and an ISIL-held building.
. Near Mosul four strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit; destroyed 11 ISIL-held buildings, five supply caches, three tactical vehicles, two mortar systems, two fighting positions, two VBIEDs, a tunnel, an observation post, a research lab, a command and control node, an up-armored VBIED, two barges, and two artillery pieces; suppressed five mortar teams; and damaged 20 supply routes and two repeater towers.

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.