SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 22, 2017 — U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday’s strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 23 strikes consisting of 25 engagements against ISIS targets:

— Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed a wellhead.

— Near Shadaddi, a strike suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.

— Near Raqqa, 18 strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and an ISIS staging area; destroyed four command-and-control nodes, three tanker trucks, three ISIS-held buildings, an oil storage tank, a vehicle-borne bomb, an ISIS headquarters, a fighting position and an ISIS media facility; and damaged four supply routes.

— Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes destroyed two wellheads and an oil inlet manifold.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of 35 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

— Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS-held building.

— Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed 11 tunnels, 10 fighting positions, three mortar systems, a rocket-propelled-grenade system, an artillery system and a heavy machine gun; damaged 12 supply routes, three fighting positions, three tunnels and a vehicle; and suppressed four ISIS tactical units.

— Near Tal Afar, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed an ISIS headquarters and a vehicle-bomb facility.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

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, task force officials said.

The list above 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, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, 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, officials said.

The task force 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.