U.S. Coalition Takes Out ISIS “Sitting Ducks”
Army Col. Ryan Dillon | Photo Credit U.S. Army
While trying to evacuate hundreds of fighters from Western Syria to Iraq, ISIS fighters were left as sitting ducks for aerial attacks by a U.S. led coalition. “We were able to exploit it and take advantage,” said Army Col. Ryan Dillon.
The military took out eleven full buses of ISIS fighters while civilians remained stranded in the Syrian desert. As militants stray away from protected women and children, troops continue to take them out one by one.
“Like moths to the flame,” over 40 vehicles tried to aid the convoy, which included armored technical vehicles and even a tank. “We were able to continue to just observe and pick them off one at a time.”
Airstrikes Take Out Roads And Bridges
ISIS Baghdad | Photo Credit Daily Beast
Over 300 Islamic State fighters and equal numbers of women and children decided to set off from Lebanon and Syria to broker a deal with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group for safe passage. But the U.S. led coalition was not a part of this deal so they decided to quickly block their progress.
These airstrikes cratered the road, ended passage by bridge, and stranded the convoy in a no-man’s land area between Syria and ISIS-occupied portions of the Iraqi border.
Approximately 85 ISIS Fighters Killed
Drone Attack | Photo Credit NY Times
A group of around a dozen militants who moved far enough away from the women and the children were also taken out while on a scouting mission. In total, more than 85 ISIS fighters have been killed during the past ten days. This mission has been much easier than trying to find the ISIS fighters in the middle of nowhere.
The convoy “has not and will not reach Iraq,” confirmed Brett McGurk, a special president envoy for the coalition. The group watched the buses turn back and they are still being constantly monitored. Some of the fighters even began to attack one another out of frustration.
