PRESS RELEASE | March 16, 2017
March 16: Military airstrikes continue against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq
CJTFOIR

March 16, 2017
Release # 20170316-01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOUTHWEST ASIA — On Mar. 15, Coalition military forces conducted 24 strikes consisting of 67 engagements against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

In Syria, Coalition military forces conducted 17 strikes consisting of 20 engagements against ISIS targets.

* Near Ar Raqqah, 13 strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions, an IED, a weapons storage facility, a storage facility, a VBIED facility, a UAV facility, a logistics facility, and an ammunition cache.

* Near Dayr Az Zawr, four strikes destroyed two well heads, two tanker trucks, a front-end loader, and a bulldozer; and damaged a bridge.

In Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 47 engagements coordinated with and in support of the government of Iraq against ISIS targets.

* Near Bayji, one strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.

* Near Kirkuk, one strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a supply cache.

* Near Mosul, five strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed 11 fighting positions, four mortar systems, two ISIS-held buildings, two vehicles, a medium machine gun, an artillery system, and a rocket-propelled grenade system; damaged 17 supply routes and three ISIS-held buildings; and suppressed six ISIS mortar teams and three ISIS tactical units.

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.