{"id":17921,"date":"2018-05-25T15:24:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T15:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/05\/25\/combined-strikes-against-isis-up-nearly-150-percent-heres-why\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:58:23","slug":"combined-strikes-against-isis-up-nearly-150-percent-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/05\/25\/combined-strikes-against-isis-up-nearly-150-percent-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Combined strikes against ISIS up nearly 150 percent. Here\u2019s why."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Operation Inherent Resolve mission to defeat the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/29\/us-officials-say-theyre-not-conducting-presence-patrols-in-manbij-syria-but-new-photos-show-otherwise\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Islamic State<\/a> has picked up the tempo this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On May 1, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/05\/pentagon-operations-against-isis-in-eastern-syria-paused\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces<\/a>, or SDF, resumed major offensive operations in the middle Euphrates River valley, where ISIS holdouts are known to remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSince then, the SDF has continued to gain ground through offensive operations, coupled with precision coalition strike support,\u201d Inherent Resolve officials said in a statement Friday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May alone, the U.S.-led coalition has conducted 184 strikes. This represents a 149 percent increase over the 74 strikes conducted in March and surpassed Inherent Resolve\u2019s total of 183 strikes in the entire month of April 2018, according to the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A strike, as defined in the Inherent Resolve statement, 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.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/05\/08\/us-backed-syrian-fighters-spotted-in-mraps-prior-to-isis-assault\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"164\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Capture.JPG_76a431.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US-backed Syrian fighters spotted in MRAPs prior to ISIS assault<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Kurdish forces, called the People\u2019s Protection Units, or YPG, flaunted a mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle over social media Tuesday \u2014 an up-armored gun truck specifically designed to resist improvised explosive devices, but not previously authorized for provision to U.S.-backed forces.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Operations against ISIS forces were <a href=\"\/TEMP-LINK-TEMP\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\">put on pause <\/a>in March, when some elements within the SDF, which itself is a mix of Kurdish and Arab groups, moved north to defend Kurdish enclaves in Syria\u2019s Afrin region from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/03\/turkey-tightens-grip-on-syrian-kurdish-enclave\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" style=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Turkish offensive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Currently, ISIS holdouts are focused in isolated pockets along the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/24\/us-led-coalition-isis-may-be-resurgent-on-russias-turf-but-not-ours\/\" data-original-title=\"\" title=\"\" class=\"selected-link\" aria-describedby=\"popover705754\">middle Euphrates River valley<\/a>, according to a Pentagon briefing in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[ISIS] morale is sinking on the frontlines as privileged Daesh leaders increasingly abandon their own fighters on the battlefield, taking resources with them as they flee,\u201d officials said in Friday\u2019s statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/24\/us-led-coalition-isis-may-be-resurgent-on-russias-turf-but-not-ours\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"159\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screen-Shot-2018-04-24-at-13.11.27.png.png?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US-led coalition: ISIS may be resurgent on Russia\u2019s turf, but not ours<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Islamic State is almost \u201ccompletely defeated\u201d in some areas, an Army spokesman says.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The coalition\u2019s push to eliminate the remnants of these ISIS fighters has been dubbed \u201cOperation Roundup,\u201d Col. Rob Manning, the Pentagon\u2019s director of press operations, told reporters this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCoalition forces support the SDF\u2019s efforts by conducting air, artillery and mortar strikes against ISIS targets,\u201d Manning said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In particular, coalition strikes have been targeting ISIS tactical units, command and control nodes, supply routes and fighting positions near Abu Kamal \u2014 a town on the border of Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The SDF has cleared more than 19 square miles of territory, bringing the total liberated area in the valley to more than 1,900 square miles, Manning said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Srikes weren\u2019t soley focused in Syria, however. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For instance, outside Baghdad, Iraq, a coalition strike was directed against five ISIS tunnels, and another strike near Qayyarah, in northern Iraq, destroyed three ISIS caves, according to the Friday report from Inherent Resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the strikes in Iraq, noted by the report, were against ISIS tunnel systems, caves and safe houses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inherent Resolve 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Operation Inherent Resolve mission to defeat the Islamic State has picked up the tempo this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":37174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,24,88,16,26,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3277],"class_list":["post-17921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"EDZ7LMLFUJCXJKJKC3ESKJ554Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2018\/05\/25\/combined-strikes-against-isis-up-nearly-150-percent-heres-why\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Combined strikes against ISIS up nearly 150 percent. 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