WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The strikes were separate from the shooting down of a Syrian Air Force plane that the coalition said dropped bombs near the coalition's partners in the anti-Daesh campaign, the Syrian Democratic Forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said the plane was supporting the Syrian government’s operation against terrorists.
"Near Raqqah, 12 strikes engaged 10 ISIS [Daesh] tactical units and destroyed four vehicles, two fighting positions, two mortar systems, a VBIED [vehicle borne improvised explosive device], a tactical vehicle, and a heavy machine gun," the release stated on Monday.
Two additional strikes in Syria destroyed well heads near Abu Kamal and nine oil stills near Deir ez-Zor, the coalition release said.
In Iraq, the coalition conducted seven strikes consisting of 69 engagements near Bayji, Kisik and Mosul. Three strikes near Bayji and Kisik engaged Daesh tactical units and destroyed weapons and an anti-air artillery system, among other targets.
Four strikes near Mosul destroyed 30 militants' fighting positions, multiple machine guns, mortar systems and supply caches and a rocket-propelled grenade system.
The US-led coalition of 69 members is conducting airstrikes, ground-based and rocket-propelled artillery fire against Daesh in Syria and Iraq. The strikes in Iraq are conducted in support of the Iraqi government, but those in Syria are not authorized by the UN Security Council or the government of President Bashar Assad.
