{"id":15307,"date":"2019-04-05T18:28:26","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T18:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/05\/airstrikes-against-isis-dwindle-as-caliphate-crumbles\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:20:21","slug":"airstrikes-against-isis-dwindle-as-caliphate-crumbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/04\/05\/airstrikes-against-isis-dwindle-as-caliphate-crumbles\/","title":{"rendered":"Airstrikes against ISIS dwindle as caliphate crumbles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State dropped off considerably in February, as the campaign to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/04\/02\/us-backed-kurdish-fighters-clash-with-isis-days-after-declaring-victory\/\" target=\"_blank\">oust the militant group<\/a> from its last strongholds in Syria reached its final stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Airstrikes as part of Operation Inherent Resolve had dropped off in early 2018, hitting a low for the year in July, when 241 weapons were released, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afcent.af.mil\/Portals\/82\/Documents\/Airpower%20summary\/FINAL%20Feb%202019%20APS%20Data.pdf?ver=2019-04-03-072821-247\" target=_blank>statistics posted online<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/07\/09\/heres-what-a-massive-spike-in-airdrops-says-about-the-war-in-afghanistan\/\" target=_blank>U.S. Air Forces Central Command<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the number of weapons released steadily increased through late summer, and then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/01\/14\/airstrikes-up-against-isis-taliban\/\" target=_blank>spiked in November<\/a>, when 1,424 airstrikes were carried out. Airstrikes then hit the year\u2019s peak in December when 2,214 weapons were released, and ticked down slightly to 2,005 in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last month, however, the number of weapons released dropped to 607. That\u2019s the lowest amount since August 2018. AFCENT said in a release that those February airstrikes, in support of allied forces on the ground, helped reduce ISIS territory to less than half a square kilometer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few weeks later, on March 23, U.S.-backed forces rooted out ISIS forces from their last piece of territory, and declared they had defeated the militant group after a devastating, nearly five-year war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ISIS at one point controlled 20,000 square miles of territory, AFCENT said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe air component is fully committed to winning the current fight while maintaining a credible, capable and dynamic defense posture to deter and win against state and non-state actors,\u201d Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, commander of AFCENT and the Combined Forces Air Component for U.S. Central Command, said in the Wednesday release. \u201cWe best achieve today\u2019s war-winning airpower by operating, practicing and improving alongside our joint coalition partners.\u201d<\/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\/2019\/03\/23\/us-allied-syrian-force-declares-victory-over-islamic-state\/\" 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=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19082410439201.jpg.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-allied Syrian force declares victory over Islamic State<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">U.S.-backed forces declared military victory over the Islamic State group in Syria on Saturday after liberating the last pocket of territory held by the militants, marking the end of a brutal self-styled caliphate the group carved out in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.<\/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\">But despite the declared victory, fighters with the allied Syrian Democratic Forces have continued to clash with holdout remnants of ISIS in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">American and coalition pilots flew 1,222 strike sorties and 919 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sorties in February to support anti-ISIS operations in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWeapon employment decreased from levels in January as ground forces advanced methodically to liberate the last of ISIS-held land in Syria and defeat the remnants of the so-called caliphate,\u201d the AFCENT release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Airstrikes in Afghanistan dropped to 327 in February, which was the lowest level in nearly two years, according to the airpower summary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And with the March 11 return of B-1B Lancer bombers and about 350 airmen from their deployment to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the Air Force currently has no bomber presence in the Middle East, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/Features\/Pages\/2019\/March%202019\/No-Bombers-Deployed-to-CENTCOM-After-B-1s-Return-Home.aspx\" target=_blank>Air Force Magazine reported<\/a>. The 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, the home of those B-1s, said the airmen supported operations against ISIS and in Afghanistan during their six-month deployment, flying 390 sorties and carrying out 920 airstrikes that destroyed more than 1,760 targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S.-backed forces rooted out ISIS forces from their last piece of territory, and on March 23 declared they had defeated the militant group after a devastating, nearly five-year war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34612,"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":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,12,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3225],"class_list":["post-15307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"24OITKGWZZHV5FHH6W4PVR2J5Y","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/04\/05\/airstrikes-against-isis-dwindle-as-caliphate-crumbles\/","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) - 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