WASINGTON (Sputnik) — The coalition has carried out more than 5600 airstrikes in its air campaign against the Islamic State.
“In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 11 airstrikes using fighter, fighter-attack and remotely piloted aircraft. Separately in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 16 airstrikes coordinated with the Government of Iraq using attack, fighter-attack, bomber and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets.”
In Syria, coalition air power struck ISIL tactical units, fighting positions and infrastructure in Kobane, Aleppo, Hasakah and Raqqah. In Iraq, coalition forces targeted ISIL militants near eight different Iraqi cities, hitting ISIL vehicles, fighting positions, tactical units, weapons stocks and staging areas.
“Every member of the coalition plays a vital role in degrading the terrorist organization, and we are all working to dismantle Daesh [ISIL[ while limiting their ability to harm civilians," the commander added.
The continuing airstrikes follows a damning report earlier this week by Airwars project, a group monitoring the anti-Islamic State coalition’s attacks, which found that more than 450 civilians have been killed in US-led airstrikes against ISIL in Syria and Iraq since the start of its campaign in 2014.
The US-led international coalition has been launching airstrikes against the group's positions in Iraq since August 2014, and expanded the attacks to include ISIL targets in Syria in September 2014.
