Local forces in Iraq, Syria increase pressure on ISIL
 
  By Cheryl Pellerin, DoD News
  **WASHINGTON (June 29, 2016)  —**
Iraqi forces have begun working toward Mosul after their victory 
in Fallujah this week against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, 
and the Syrian Democratic Forces are tightening a cordon around Manbij 
in an operation led by the Syrian Arab coalition, the Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman said Wednesday. Speaking live via videoconference from a command post in the 
Middle East, Army Col. Christopher Garver gave an update on the ISIL 
fight after offering condolences on the U.S.-led coalition’s behalf 
after deadly attacks yesterday on the Istanbul Ataturk International 
Airport in Turkey’s capital city. Also this morning, Defense Secretary Ash Carter called Turkish 
Minister of Defense Fikri Isik to express his deep condolences following
 the attack. Carter strongly condemned the attack as a cowardly assault on a
 stalwart NATO ally and enduring partner in efforts to confront the 
threat of terrorism, according to a statement by DoD Deputy Press 
Secretary Gordon Trowbridge. The defense secretary also reaffirmed that 
the department will work closely with Turkish allies to defeat 
terrorists of any kind. **Victory in Fallujah** Beginning with Iraq, Garver said the world watched as Iraqi 
fighters raised the Iraqi flag over Fallujah June 17, and Iraqi military
 leaders announced the city’s full liberation June 26. “Since that time we have seen rapid clearing operations within 
the city as [Iraq] consolidates its gains and prepares for future 
operations, which will include handing over the security of Fallujah to 
the holding force” of local police and Sunni tribal fighters, the 
colonel added. The assault phase of the ground campaign began May 21, and 
during that time the coalition conducted 106 strikes in support of Iraqi
 operations, he said. “We know there is interest in the physical state of Fallujah 
after the battle,” Garver said, adding that press reports indicate that 
the city is in better shape than Ramadi was last year after its 
liberation. “If initial reports [are] accurate, we hope this will bode well
 for getting the residents of Fallujah back into their homes as quickly 
as possible. We do not have an estimated timeline from the Iraqi 
government yet but all parties involved in the care of the displaced 
citizens are working to develop that now,” he said. In the Tigris River Valley, Iraqi forces are conducting shaping
 operations to prepare for the eventual liberation of Mosul. On the 
western access, Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service forces and 9th Iraqi 
Army Division brigades continue to push the attack north out of Beiji, 
Garver said. Fighting on the western access has ranged been between light 
and moderate, but Iraqi forces continue to make steady gains toward 
Qayyarah. Over the past week, the coalition has conducted 34 strikes in 
the Qayyarah region in support of these operations, the colonel added. **Toward Manbij** In Syria, in addition to progress made by Syrian Democratic 
Forces and the Syrian Arab Coalition toward Manbij, SAC forces are 
fighting to establish footholds on the southern and western edges of the
 city, Garver said. “They’ve seized the entrances to an intricate tunnel complex on
 the southern edge, which will reduce [ISIL’s] ability to relocate 
fighters inside the city,” he added, noting that SAC forces have seized 
more than 10,000 documents from the outlying edges, including textbooks,
 propaganda posters, cell phones, laptops, maps and digital storage 
devices. “Exploitation of this information is ongoing to better 
understand [ISIL] networks and techniques, including the systems [used] 
to manage the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq,” the colonel
 said. To protect citizens inside the city, Garver said SAC leaders 
have assumed a slower and more deliberate rate of advance to clear booby
 traps and homemade bombs and to avoid civilian casualties, although 
ISIL continues to establish fortified defenses in the city. “We expect the fighting to continue to be intense and progress 
slow but deliberate due to the strategic importance [ISIL] places on 
this city for keeping lines of communication between Manbij, Raqqa and 
outside Syria open,” he said. **Increasing Pressure** In southeastern Syria, Garver said that partner opposition 
forces running the Tanf Garrison launched an attack in the past 48 hours
 to seize the town of Abu Kamal in the Euphrates River Valley. “The announced purpose of this attack by the New Syrian Army, 
also known as the ... KAA, is to liberate Abu Kamal and cut [ISIL’s] 
military supply lines in the Euphrates Valley between Syria and Iraq,” 
he said. “Cutting these supply lines will impact the flow of foreign 
fighters and supplies between the upper and lower Euphrates Valley.” Garver said that as local fighters with coalition support have 
worked to interdict lines of communication between Iraq and Syria in the
 north near Sinjar Mountain on Highway 43 and in the south near Rutbah 
on Highway 10, “we are now working to interdict the last major line of 
communication between the two countries.” Doing so, he added, will better isolate ISIL operations in the 
two countries, limit high-speed routes to reinforcements, resupply and 
foreign fighters flowing between the countries, and increase pressure 
across the so-called caliphate. **Tidal Wave II** Operation Inherent Resolve continues to target ISIL illicit oil
 and natural gas activities in an operation called Tidal Wave II, Garver
 said, whose targets include oil sites, equipment and vehicles for 
transporting oil and natural gas. Since September 2014, the coalition has conducted about 300 
strikes against oil-related facilities, infrastructure and equipment, he
 said, and last week the coalition conducted eight strikes in support of
 Tidal Wave II near Raqqa in Syria and Mosul and Qayyarah in Iraq. Coalition airstrikes have attacked ISIL oil tankers, oil and 
gas separation plants, wellheads and pumping infrastructure, he said, 
and the self-proclaimed ISIL ministry of oil headquarters in Mosul, 
affecting management of illicit oil operations. “The Tidal Wave strikes affect ISIL’s ability to fund governance activities and terror operations,” Garver added.