ISIS Defeated? Military Used 7,000 Weapons In Iraq, Syria Against Terror Group

The U.S. Air Force and other military branches and other joint forces unleashed a record 7,040 weapons against the Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIS, in January and February, the most used since the latest mission began nearly three years ago, Air Force Times reported Monday.

The U.S. Air Forces Central Command posted statistics last week that showed 3,600 weapons were released in January and another 3,440 were used last month as efforts were stepped up to drive ISIS out of key strongpoints in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria with help from allied forces as well, according to the report.

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"As they move forward, clear land and find the enemy, we are able to hunt down and kill ISIS," spokeswoman Capt. Kathleen Atanasoff told Air Force Times.

But the report also stated—based off an investigation conducted by Military Times in February—that the reported statistics could actually be lower than the real numbers. The previous high for weapons used since Operation Inherent Resolve began in Iraq in June 2014 and Syria in September 2014 was 3,242 in November 2015 followed by 3,160 in June 2016, according to the military’s official numbers.

Over the last six months, U.S.-backed forces had engaged with ISIS in eastern Mosul and taken that part of the city, and now they have engaged the terror group in the western section. As the forces advance into the city, it’s often protocol for the military to increase the weapons used to further the progress, Atanasoff said.

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But airstrikes, in particular, have been harder to target in western Mosul due to its dense neighborhoods and about 650,000 civilians stuck inside, CBS News reported Tuesday. Mosul, also called the Old City, had also been a major stronghold for ISIS because leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had announced the formation of his caliphate there two years ago.