Over 80,000 pounds of smart bombs have turned an ISIS-infested island in Iraq into a wasteland.
Fox News’ Melissa Leon reports:
The bombing was meant to destroy an area the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group was using for operations in the region, U.S. officials said. Iraqi forces searched and cleared the area following the bombing.
Wim Zwijnenburg, a senior researcher at PAX, a Dutch nongovernmental organization specializing in conflict and the environment, told Fox News that historical images show the island doesn’t have any structures, indicating it’s unlikely there are underground facilities.
Zwijnenburg said the island, on the Tigris River south of Mosul, has been targeted in the past. The nearest U.S. military presence is at Qayyarah Airfield West, about 10 miles away; it’s occupied by the U.S.-led coalition battling the terrorist group.
Roughly a dozen terrorists were killed in a previous airstrike on the island, Col. Myles B. Caggins III, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), told Fox News on Thursday.
VIDEO: Here’s what it looks like when @USAFCENT #F15 and #F35 jets drop 36,000 Kg of bombs on a Daesh infested island. ???????? هكذا تبدوا الجزيرة الموبوءة بداعش بعد أن أسقطت عليها الطائرات المقاتلة #أف-15 و #أف-35 36,000 كغم من الذخيرة pic.twitter.com/2v6FAEL9Rn
— OIR Spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins III (@OIRSpox) September 10, 2019
The island also held strategic significance as a transportation hub for ISIS fighters going to and from Syria.
AAN Staff
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