Reuters
AFP: Fighting from above: the air war on IS
The Iraqi security forces' seemingly inexorable push toward Mosul saw fighting begin in the city itself this week, but it is work taking place in the skies above that has enabled such dramatic advances.
A relentless air operation using planes and drones from a dozen or so members of a US-led coalition against the Islamic State group has over more than two years conducted some 16,000 air strikes against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria -- two-thirds of them in Iraq.
Mostly, coalition planes conducted "deliberate" strikes, where they destroyed targets acquired through intelligence or surveillance.
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WNU Editor: The air war against the Islamic State is definitely intense if the following quote is accurate .... At any given time, 15-20 coalition aircraft -- mostly drones -- circle Mosul.