Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has conducted thousands of sorties in an effort to destroy its combat platforms stolen by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Officials said the U.S. Air Force conducted thousands of missions against ISIL. They said the air strikes damaged or destroyed 3,222 targets since August 2014.

“Our strikes are extraordinarily accurate,” Defense Department spokesman Steve Warren said.

[Related — Tanks, copters and cash: Bank robberies in Mosul make ISIL ‘wealthiest terrorist franchise ever’, June 24]

In a briefing on Jan. 7, Warren said many of the air strikes targeted Iraqi combat platforms seized by ISIL in June 2014. Thousands of the platforms, including main battle tanks and combat vehicles, had been delivered to Baghdad by the United States.

In the U.S.-led air campaign, at least 58 MBTs, 26 armored personnel carriers and 184 Humvee combat vehicles were determined to have been damaged or destroyed. Warren did not identify the MBTs, said to have included the M1A1. But the Pentagon official, who refused to give details, suggested that this marked only a portion of the ISIL arsenal.

“In order for us to do that we would have to release to you the exact number of tanks we believe the enemy has, the exact number of Humvees we believe the enemy has,” Warren said. “We don’t want our enemy to know how much we know about them.”

Other ISIL weapons targeted included 79 artillery, anti-aircraft weapons or mortars as well as 303 so-called technical vehicles. Warren also reported air strikes on 14 ISIL boats, but said aircraft seized by the movement were
not targeted.

Officials said the U.S. campaign also struck 673 ISIL combat positions and 980 buildings or barracks. They said the U.S.-led coalition conducted 1,676 air strikes from Aug. 8, 2014 until Jan. 6, 2015.

The coalition has included such Arab members as Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But officials said nearly 90 percent of air strikes were conducted by the U.S. Air Force.

  U.S. air strikes destroy U.S. battle tanks stolen by ISIL from Iraq, WorldTribune.com