The U.S.-led coalition continued its air assault Monday near Iraq's Mount Sinjar, a day after Kurdish peshmerga fighters broke an Islamic State siege of the area.
The Combined Joint Task Force said the U.S.-led coalition conducted 12 airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria on Monday and 10 strikes in Iraq. Three of the airstrikes hit several units of IS fighters and destroyed militant vehicles and buildings.
In Iraq, the strikes hit near the strategic northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, as well as near Asad, Tal Afar, Ramdi, Mosul and Falluja, the Combined Joint Task Force said. They destroyed six units of Islamic State fighters as well as a weapons factory, numerous buildings and several vehicles, it said.
In Syria, the dozen strikes centered around the border town of Kobani as well as Aleppo, Hasaka and Raqqa, destroying various fighting positions, vehicles and a group of fighters, the statement said.
"These engagements were in support of the 7th Iraqi Army, local police and tribal fighters engaged in fighting with ISIL forces in the vicinity of Dulab," the statement said.
On Sunday, Kurdish and Yazidi fighters battled to take the Sinjar back from Islamic State after breaking a months-long siege of the mountain above it. Seizing the town would restore the majority of territory Iraq's Kurds lost in Islamic State's surprise offensive in August.
Kurdish officials said Sunday peshmerga fighters took control of all roads leading to the mountain, but still face pockets of resistance in the town of Sinjar.
Some material for this report came from Reuters.
