U.S.-led warplanes destroy ISIS oil tankers in Syria
WASHINGTON- U.S.-led coalition planes destroyed 168 Islamic State oil tanker trucks in Syria, the coalition said on Friday, in the largest strike of its kind and the latest instance of what U.S. officials say has been a successful effort to starve the militant group of revenues.
The air strikes targeted the truck fleet near Palmyra, Syria on Thursday, a coalition statement said. Their destruction means lost revenues of about $2 million to Islamic State, the estimated value of fuel in the trucks, the coalition said.
The strikes are part of a campaign by the U.S.-led coalition to target oil infrastructure controlled by Islamic State, which occupies swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
The group has been on the backfoot as an Iraqi military campaign with U.S. coalition air support has succeeded in wresting back significant territory, including a series of oil fields.
