U.S. forces dropped more than 1,400 bombs, rockets and various other munitions on Islamic State targets in Mosul last week, according to a military spokesman.
The remarkable amount of ordnance was delivered from Oct. 17 to Oct. 22, according to U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve. Dorrian noted that the large number of strikes amounted to an “all time high” in the fight against ISIS.
Operation Inherent Resolve timed the strikes in coordination with the ongoing Iraqi mission to retake Mosul, ISIS’s de facto capital in Iraq. A combination of Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Kurdish Peshmerga began their assault on Mosul last Sunday after months of planning and preparation.
While U.S. forces are supporting ISF and Kurdish Peshmerga forces in previous engagements against ISIS, the fight for Mosul is several orders of magnitude larger than anything seen before. To help address that fact, U.S. forces deployed HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) batteries to the Qayyarah base just south of the city, in addition to the usual air strikes.
WATCH:
US troops fire artillery towards #Mosul, a major part of the American involvement in the campaign to dislodge ISIS from there. pic.twitter.com/eqgsJNg8Bf
— Tamer El-Ghobashy (@TamerELG) October 21, 2016
The Mosul offensive saw quick progress during its first week of operations, despite waves of ISIS-deployed suicide bombers, car bombs and burning oil fields. The Pentagon is confident that victory in Mosul is inevitable, but expects continued heavy resistance from ISIS fighters.
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