“In Syria, Coalition military forces conducted seven airstrikes, using bomber, fighter and attack aircraft,” the CJTF-OIR statement read. “Separately in Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted nine airstrikes approved by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense using fighter, attack and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] terrorists.”
In Syria, the Coalition launched seven airstrikes launched against ISIL’ tactical units, vehicles and fighting positions, while in Iraq, nine airstrikes hit the militant groups’ weapons, buildings and excavators, according to the statement.
"The Syrian strikes support continued advances of Kurdish forces in the northern part of the country,” CJTF Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Thomas Weidley said in the statement.
Weidley explained that complementary airstrikes in Iraq supported multiple on-going operations by the Iraqi and Kurdish Security Forces to “produce an ever increasing lethal pressure” on the Islamic State throughout both Syria and Iraq.
The US-led Coalition began carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq in August 2014, and expanded the air campaign to Syria in September 2014, although without the approval of the Syrian government.
The airstrikes were a part of the Coalition’s Operation Inherent Resolve, whose goal is to eliminate the IS terrorist group, according to statement.
