Airstrikes, Many by Navy, Killing 1,000 ISIS Fighters a Month
by Chris Jennewein
SAN DIEGO(SDONA) — An Air Force general said Friday that airstrikes, many from San Diego-based Navy aircraft carriers, are killing 1,000 ISIS fighters a month.
Air Force Lt. Gen. John W. Hesterman III told Pentagon reporters in a telephone interview that the air coalition flying strikes over Iraq and Syria is having a “profound” effect on the enemy.
“Our coalition airstrikes are the most precise and disciplined in the history of aerial warfare,” he said. “We’ve been able to impact the enemy in a significant way, and we do it in a way that minimizes civilian casualties which our coalition nations, rightly, are very proud of.”
The San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson lead the airstrikes for eight months, and the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which will soon make San Diego its home, is now on station in the Arabian Gulf.
“There will be tactical setbacks that we should not give [ISIS] strategic victory credit for,” Hesterman said. “Be sure — we in the coalition are fully committed to a strategic defeat of the … terrorists.”
Chris Jennewein is Editor-Publisher of The Times of San Diego which, along with The Moderate Voice, belongs to the San Diego Online News Association. This article is reprinted from that website.