Syria Update - AIN Defence Perspective

Airstrikes over Iraq and Syria Bring Some Success

The recapture of Ramadi by Iraqi troops backed by 650 coalition air strikes in a six-month period indicates that Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is making some progress in its stated aim of defeating ISIL forces in Iraq and Syria. Another significant recent development, according to the U.S. Centcom spokesman, has been the targeted killing from the air of 10 ISIL leaders. By the end of 2015, there had been a total of 9,220 airstrikes in the 17-month campaign, two-thirds of them over Iraq and one-third over Syria.  The U.S. has conducted three-quarters of all those airstrikes. Although participation by Arab forces has declined, France increased its effort after the terrorist attacks in Paris in early November, and the UK Royal Air Force is also now bombing Syria after a parliamentary vote reversed a 2014 decision against such action. The French are flying Dassault Mirage 2000s from Jordan and Rafales from the UAE and the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. They launched Scalp cruise missiles for the first time last month. The British have sent more Tornado GR.4s plus—for the first time—Typhoons to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. The German air force is now contributing A310 air tankers and the electronic combat/reconnaissance (ECR) version of the Tornado. The latter can perform strike missions but have not been cleared to do so by Berlin. Iraq’s own contribution has included some F-16 missions and the first use of some Chinese CH-4 UAVs that it acquired, apparently firing anti-tank missiles over Ramadi.