PRESS RELEASE | Feb. 25, 2017
February 25: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq
CJTFOIR

February 25, 2017
Release # 20170225-01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOUTHWEST ASIA — On Feb. 24, Coalition military forces conducted 21 strikes consisting of 125 engagements against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

In Syria, Coalition military forces conducted 12 strikes consisting of 30 engagements against ISIS targets.

* Near Al Shadaddi, five strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and destroyed three fighting positions, two vehicles, an ISIS headquarters, a storage facility and a VBIED.

* Near Ar Raqqah, five strikes destroyed an artillery system, a mortar system, a rocket system, a watercraft, a weapons storage facility and a chemical weapons facility.

* Near Dayr Az Zawr, one strike destroyed two oil well heads.

* Near Palmyra, one strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle and a tactical vehicle.

In Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted nine strikes consisting of 95 engagements coordinated with and in support of the government of Iraq against ISIS targets.

* Near Al Huwayjah, one strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a heavy machine gun and a logistics node.

* Near Al Qaim, one strike destroyed a homemade explosives cache and a VBIED factory.

* Near Bayji, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed five ISIS-held buildings, three vehicles, a fighting position and a front-end loader.

* Near Mosul, five strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and an ISIS sniper unit; destroyed nine fighting positions, eight mortar systems, five ISIS-held buildings, four command and control nodes, three VBIED facilities, three tactical vehicles, two vehicles, two artillery systems, two anti-air artillery systems, a rocket-propelled grenade system, a UAV storage facility, a front-end loader, a VBIED staging area and a supply cache; damaged 12 supply routes and four ISIS-held buildings; and suppressed 22 mortars and an artillery system.

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.

This Coalition strike release 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. 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.

A strike, as defined in the Coalition release, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative effect in that location. For example, 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.

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.