International Shia News Agency

Presstv/ Pentagon: 1,700 bombs dropped in US-led war on ISIL

SHAFAQNA (International Shia News Association) – The Pentagon says the US and its allies have dropped more than 1,700 bombs in air assault on the ISIL terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

The US Central Command said in a statement on Thursday that American and allied aircraft have flown some 6,600 sorties over the past 10 weeks in their war against ISIL.

According to the Pentagon, US warplanes have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq since mid-August. Some Western states have also participated in some of the strikes in Iraq.

Since late September, the US and some of its Arab allies — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates — have been carrying out airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

According to the Central Command statement, US fighter jets have carried out the overwhelming majority of the airstrikes so far.

It added that out of 632 bombing raids Washington’s allies conducted only 79 of the airstrikes.

It also said that 346 strikes have taken place in Iraq, while 286 were carried out in Syria.

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, control large parts of Syria’s northern territory. ISIL sent its fighters into Iraq in June, quickly seizing large swaths of land straddling the border between the two countries.

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