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US Destroys 116 ISIS Fuel Trucks in Syria
Posted On Nov 18 2015
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The attack was aimed at disrupting one of the major sources of revenue for the terror outfit.
US aircraft have destroyed 116 fuel trucks used by ISIS to generate income for its operations, which is part of an expansion of the U.S.-led coalition’s targeting of ISIS’ oil-smuggling operations.
“Four A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes and two AC-130 Spectre gunships pounded the trucks as they clustered near Abu Kamal, a town close to the Iraqi border”.
“ISIL is stealing oil from the people of Iraq and Syria” at a rate estimated by the Treasury Department at $1 million daily, [Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis] said.
An American official told the Times that there were no immediate reports of civilian casualties in the strikes against the trucks.
The statement said 13 strikes were carried out in various parts of Iraq on Sunday as well.
“We’re balancing that with the fact that this revenue is presenting a clear and present threat to Syrians today, in that it’s being converted into funds which are being used for military equipment, which is being used to kill innocent civilians”, Davis said.
Col. Steven H. Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, confirmed that A-10s and AC-130s had been used in the attack and that 116 tanker trucks had been destroyed.
Last week U.S. officials announced that the United States had increased airstrikes against the infrastructure that IS uses to pump oil into Syria.
“What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain, and we have contained them”.
The goal, he said, was to destroy machinery or facilities for which the militants don’t have the needed replacement parts.
A month ago the coalition launched Operation Tidal Wave II, a broadened campaign to target ISIS’ oil operations that would strike additional targets and keep them out of commission for extended periods of time.
The new campaign is namedTidal Wave IIafter theWWII operation of the Allies aimed to cripple Nazi Germany’s war machine by destroyingoilfields and refineries in Romania the NY Times said in its coverage of the news.
