A USA -backed Syrian Arab rebel force vowed on Thursday, June 30 to continue attacks against Islamic State militants after being forced to retreat from the outskirts of a town near the Iraqi border when the jihadists counter-attacked, accoridng to Reuters.
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The Iraqi air force and US -led coalition warplanes killed as many as 250 Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) jihadists in airstrikes on a pair of convoys fleeing Fallujah.
Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad, was wrested from IS by Iraqi forces on Sunday after more than two years under the group’s control. The Pentagon said Wednesday that it did not have details about the incident.
Over the course of the two days, the coalition strikes were estimated to have destroyed 175 suspected ISIS vehicles, according to a statement from Garver.
Iraqi commanders said June 30 that ISIL fighters fleeing Fallujah had taken a heavy toll from strikes by both Iraqi and USA -led coalition aircraft.
Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, said “our heroes in the military aviation destroyed more than 200 vehicles”. If these figures are confirmed, it will make this the deadliest airstrike against any jihadist group in history. “We started to chase ISIS convoys on Tuesday”.
The official, identified by The Associated Press as Lt. Gen. Hamid al-Maliki, said no other force took part in the operation.
Once Fallujah is fully free of Islamic State fighters and mines, the Iraqi government aims to concentrate on launching an offensive to take back terrorist-controlled Mosul, the country’s second largest city.
The airstrikes struck the targets, which were travelling amid two large convoys, as Iraqi Security Forces were working to clear Fallujah, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said in a briefing.
“As Iraqi forces continue to regain territory and begin preparatory operations to retake Mosul, it is important that the Coalition continues to provide the support needed to allow them to make further progress”.
The account of the air strikes provided by the JOC suggests IS fighters had no choice but to attempt a suicidal convoy that they knew would leave them exposed to air strikes.
That attack occurred around 2 miles west of Amiriyah Fallujah, according to Rasool. “Logistics remain the longest pole in the Iraqi tent”, U.S. Military spokesman Col. Steven Warren said to The Washington Post.
In addition to the number of dead, an estimated 260 vehicles were destroyed.
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Iraqi forces declared Fallujah fully liberated on Sunday, after government troops routed the remaining IS fighters from the city’s north and west under the close cover of US -led coalition airstrikes.
