Story ID: 12-2014-2 Iraq+Syria airstrikes update
Airstrikes Slow Over Iraq and Syria
By: Chris Pocock
Caption: Difficult targeting decisions cited; long campaign foreseen
Word Count: 512
The pace of airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) forces in Iraq and Syria by coalition air forces appears to have slackened this month, with only 45 reported to date. Last month, coalition fighters, bombers and UAVs struck targets on 153 missions over Syria and 188 over Iraq, according to U.S. Centcom reports analyzed by AIN. In October, the totals were 231 and 174, respectively. About one in four strike aircraft that get airborne are actually dropping weapons, according to AIN’s calculations. Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Deborah Lee James claimed this week that the air campaign is “working” but cautioned that “we’re in this for the long ballgame.”

According to media briefings in the Pentagon, Centcom is having to make “very difficult targeting decisions…working in concert with the capabilities of partners on the ground.” Although some fixed targets such as bunkers and occupied buildings and staging areas have been hit, the majority of targets have been mobile, including armored vehicles and vehicles, artillery pieces and “fighting positions.” Strikes against an “electronic warfare garrison” and “jamming systems” in Syria were reported at the end of November. No strikes against IS-controlled oil facilities in Syria have been reported in the past month. It is not clear what proportion of the strikes have been mounted in daytime, versus nighttime, or what proportion have been conducted by Reaper/Predator UAVs operated by the UK and the U.S. The coalition campaign has been named Operation Inherent Resolve. The average daily cost of U.S. operations alone is $8.1 million.

There have been no reports of significant advances by Iraqi ground forces to retake territory lost to IS. “They are preparing for broader offensives,” said outgoing U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel this week. The government in Baghdad admitted widespread corruption and incompetence in the Iraqi army. The U.S. has proceeded with the delivery of 800 Hellfire missiles to Iraq but has postponed delivery of the first Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters that were due to reach the country last September.

However, in Syria, coalition-backed forces have made advances in the south, and concentrated airstrikes in early to mid-November around Kobani, the besieged Kurdish town on the Turkey-Syria border, have evidently prevented IS forces from taking control there. According to Syrian rebel sources, they are coordinating their actions with coalition officers via an operations center in Amman, Jordan. The Israeli air force has also been in action over Syria, striking targets around Damascus.

Although 33 nations participated in a Centcom planning conference last month, only 11 are providing combat airpower. The air forces of Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have joined the U.S. Air Force and Navy in striking targets in Syria. The remaining coalition partners (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark—a new participant with F-16s in Kuwait—France and the UK) have elected to fly strike missions only over Iraq, although the UK is flying ISR missions over Syria using its new RC-135 River Joint Sigint aircraft, and Reaper UAVs that were repositioned from Afghanistan.