OIR surpasses three years of continued pressure on ISIS Published Aug. 16, 2017 By Staff Reports 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs (Editor’s note: Information contained within this article was provided by U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs to include statistics and a summary of operations conducted in July.) TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Coalition tankers reached a historic milestone in July, surpassing 40,000 sorties flown in support of operations in Iraq and Syria since Operation Inherent Resolve commenced in August 2014. Throughout the three-year campaign, coalition aerial refueling has proven indispensable at helping overcome the tyranny of distance, ensuring aircraft are present over the battlespace 24/7. Since the inception of the campaign to dismantle and defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, coalition tankers have offloaded approximately 2.4 billion pounds of fuel and conducted more than 230,000 aircraft refuelings. This has enabled strike and bomber aircraft to employ more than 93,000 weapons against ISIS targets. In July, coalition airpower continued attacking ISIS, releasing more than 4,300 weapons against a variety of targets. Although the overall weapons released decreased 11 percent from June, the week of July 7-13 marked the highest weekly number of weapons employed in the OIR campaign – more than 1,200 – with the vast majority of those in support of partner ground forces during the first week of the Raqqah offensive. In early July, coalition airstrikes proved decisive in helping Iraqi Security Forces liberate Mosul, Iraq, from ISIS control, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announcing victory on July 10. Throughout the nine-month battle, coalition and Iraqi aircraft provided 24/7 coverage to identify and precisely strike enemy targets, ensuring partner forces on the ground always had protective air support. According to U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, OIR spokesman, ISIS is under significant pressure as a direct result of the coalition targeting its oil and other revenue streams. They have been forced to cut its fighter stay by half, and, having lost Mosul and with the Syrian Democratic Forces making steady progress in Raqqa, ISIS has lost much of its revenue base. They are becoming increasingly desperate and resorting to more arbitrary taxation and extortion, which further undermines its credibility with the local population and its attractiveness to recruits. These efforts, along with ISIS battlefield losses, their leaders being killed, and degradation of their propaganda, all contribute to an organization that is losing, said Dillon. ISIS does not have the same level of leadership it once had. They do not have the same level of grandeur. People no longer want to come and join these terrorists. And they do not have the resources they once had. It will continue to lose under the pressure of our partner forces and the coalition until they are defeated in Iraq and Syria, he added.