U.S., allies launch 23 air strikes against ISIS

The U.S.-led coalition launched 23 air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and three in Syria on Thursday, the task force leading the operation said in a statement.

The coalition said 22 strikes in Iraq were coordinated with that nation’s government against ISIS targets, and one strike was against inoperable coalition equipment.

The strikes included seven in the ISIS stronghold of Mosul and six in Ramadi, where Iraqi troops drove out most of the militants last week after a hard-fought offensive, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Friday.

In Mosul, the strikes destroyed four ISIS tactical units, six fighting positions, four assembly areas, a bunker and a tunnel. In Ramadi, they destroyed 16 fighting positions, 13 heavy machine guns and a dozen improvised explosive devices and denied militants access to terrain, the coalition said.

Other strikes in Iraq hit near Al Qaim, Sinjar, Haditha, Irbil, Kisik, Qayyarah and Sultan Abdallah, it said.

The coalition said air strikes in Syria included two near Ayn Isa, where they destroyed three fighting positions and suppressed a third, and near Manbij, where a strike destroyed three staging areas.