(Zaman Al Wasl)- U.S. led air strikes in Syria have inflicted "significant damage" to Islamic State's ability to fund itself, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Recent strikes in an air operation dubbed "Tidal Wave II" have been concentrated on oil facilities in the Deir Ezzor region, which provide an estimated two-thirds of Islamic State's oil revenue, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said at a news briefing, Reuters reported.
While airstrikes have targeted oil facilities in the past, Warren said they were against parts that were being easily repaired or replaced.
"So we did a detailed analysis to determine how can we strike the oil field to break them for longer, essentially," he said.
Oil revenue is one of the largest sources of income for the Islamic State and the operation could have a significant impact on the terrorist organization, according to Frederic Hof, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.
"This is very much a revenue-decreasing operation, designed to eliminate, what I understand to be a very significant source of revenue for ISIS,” Hof said, using a different acronym for the group.
Warren in another statement said that the U.S. military is "reasonably certain" a U.S. drone strike killed the Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John," a British citizen who appeared in videos of militants beheading Western journalists and aid workers, a spokesman said on Friday.
The militant, Mohammed Emwazi, was thought to have been killed in the Syrian town of Raqqa by a U.S. drone firing a Hellfire missile, but the military still needed final verification, Warren said.
Near the capital, ISIS said it has downed a Syrian warplane northwest Damascus on Friday as regime ground troops intensify attacks on eastern and western outskirts. Regime jets have dropped at least 18 barrel bombs on embattled town of Daraya west of Damascus. (With Reuters)
Recent strikes in an air operation dubbed "Tidal Wave II" have been concentrated on oil facilities in the Deir Ezzor region, which provide an estimated two-thirds of Islamic State's oil revenue, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said at a news briefing, Reuters reported.
While airstrikes have targeted oil facilities in the past, Warren said they were against parts that were being easily repaired or replaced.
"So we did a detailed analysis to determine how can we strike the oil field to break them for longer, essentially," he said.
Oil revenue is one of the largest sources of income for the Islamic State and the operation could have a significant impact on the terrorist organization, according to Frederic Hof, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.
"This is very much a revenue-decreasing operation, designed to eliminate, what I understand to be a very significant source of revenue for ISIS,” Hof said, using a different acronym for the group.
Warren in another statement said that the U.S. military is "reasonably certain" a U.S. drone strike killed the Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John," a British citizen who appeared in videos of militants beheading Western journalists and aid workers, a spokesman said on Friday.
The militant, Mohammed Emwazi, was thought to have been killed in the Syrian town of Raqqa by a U.S. drone firing a Hellfire missile, but the military still needed final verification, Warren said.
Near the capital, ISIS said it has downed a Syrian warplane northwest Damascus on Friday as regime ground troops intensify attacks on eastern and western outskirts. Regime jets have dropped at least 18 barrel bombs on embattled town of Daraya west of Damascus. (With Reuters)
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