FILE IMAGE: AFP
The US military claims it has killed three men who played key roles in developing, building and modifying ISIS drones, the Associated Press reports.
US Army Col. Ryan Dillon, the spokesman for the counter-ISIS coalition, said Abu Muadh al-Tunisi was killed on September 12 and Sajid Farooq Babar was killed on September 13 by coalition airstrikes near Mayadin, Syria, in the Middle Euphrates River Valley. Separately, on September 14, two airstrikes in Syria targeted ISIS drone developer Abu Salman near Mayadin and destroyed his research lab in Ashara, Syria.
According to Voa News, Dillon said the two ISIS fighters “were responsible for manufacturing and modifying commercially produced drones.” The fatal strikes against three drone experts degraded ISIS’s ability “to modify and employ drone platforms as reconnaissance and direct-fire weapons on the battlefield,” said Dillon.
In the period between September 24 and September 28, US-led coalition military forces conducted 300 strikes ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq, according to strike reports released by Operation Inherent Resolve’s website.
In Syria, Combined Joined Strike Force engaged ISIS near Al Shadaddi, Raqqah, Abu Kamal and Dayr Az Zawr. In Iraq, the Coalition forces have engaged ISIS forces near Al Qaim, Qayyarah, Haditha, Huwijah, Rawah, Baghdad, Bayji, Fallujah, Ramadi, and Tal Afar. A number of ISIS headquarters, heavy weaponry, supply routes, ISIS tactical units were destroyed.
