US
Central Command has freshly updated its
airstrike damage assessments from
Operation Inherent Resolve, showing a total of 5,547 targets hit in Iraq and
Syria since August 2014,
up
from 5,314 less than a month ago. The heaviest hit targets continue to be
“fighting positions,” with US and coalition aircraft hitting 1,096 positions as
of March 31 (up from 1,003 as of March 18), followed by 762 “buildings” (up
from 736 in the March 18 report). Aircraft is now broken out as a separate
category, with 15 listed as struck as of March 31. Strikes on civilian vehicles
with crew-mounted weapons, so-called “technical” and “miscellaneous vehicles,”
continue to climb, with 479 technical vehicles struck as of March 31, up from
460, and 595 miscellaneous vehicles struck, up from 547. Coalition officials
and
US military leaders have repeatedly suggested the airstrikes are causing
ISIS to change tactics, and eschew military formations for civilian vehicles
and smaller groups.
