Operation Inherent Resolve

Operation Inherent Resolve
	Part of the War against the Islamic State, the war on terror, the War in Iraq (2013–2017), the Syrian civil war, and the Libyan civil war (2014–2020)
	; U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets of VFA-22 take off from USS Carl Vinson to support U.S. efforts for Operation Inherent Resolve in October 2014.
Date	15 June 2014 – 30 June 2026; (12 years and 15 days) Iraq: 15 June 2014 – 9 December 2021; (7 years, 5 months, 3 weeks and 3 days); Syria: 22 September 2014 – 19 June 2026 ; (11 years, 6 months, 3 weeks and 4 days); Libya: 13 November 2015 – 29 September 2019; (3 years, 10 months, 2 weeks and 2 days);
Location	Iraq; Syria; Libya;
Result	US-allied victory CJTF-OIR and its partner forces liberated nearly 110,000 square kilometers and 7.7 million people from Islamic State control; Death of first four ISIS caliphs; Territorial defeat of ISIL in Iraq on 9 December 2017 and territorial defeat of ISIL in Syria on 23 March 2019; Withdrawal of U.S. ground forces from Libya in April 2019; Last known U.S. drone strike in Libya took place on September 29, 2019; End of combat mission in Iraq in December 2021; Withdrawal of U.S. ground forces from Baghdad and key military bases in Iraq in August 2025.; Withdrawal of U.S. ground forces from northeastern Syria on 16 April 2026; Last known U.S. drone strike in Syria took place on 19 June 2026;
Belligerents
United States U.S. Armed Forces Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve; ; U.S. Army III Armored Corps; XVIII Airborne Corps; ; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Space Force;	Islamic State al-Qaeda al-Nusra Front (2014–2017); Khorasan group (2012–2017); Jund al-Aqsa (2014–17); Hurras al-Din (2018–2025); Syrian Salvation Government (2017–2024) Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (2017–2025); Islamic Front (2013–2015) Ahrar al-Sham ; (2014–18); Turkistan Islamic Party
Commanders and leaders
Barack Obama; Joe Biden; Donald Trump; Chuck Hagel; Ash Carter; Jim Mattis; Patrick M. Shanahan; Richard V. Spencer; Mark Esper; Christopher C. Miller; David Norquist; Lloyd Austin; Pete Hegseth; Robert G. Salesses; John Kerry; Thomas A. Shannon Jr.; Rex Tillerson; John Sullivan; Mike Pompeo; Daniel Bennett Smith; Antony Blinken; Marco Rubio; Robert P. White; Matthew McFarlane; Joel B. Vowell; Kevin C. Leahy;	Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (leader of IS); Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi †; Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi †; Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi †; ; Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi X; ; Abu Alaa Afri † ; (Deputy Leader of IS); Abu Mohammad al-Adnani † (Spokesperson); Abu Ayman al-Iraqi † (Head of Military Shura); Abu Muslim al-Turkmani † (Deputy Leader, Iraq); Abu Ali al-Anbari † (Deputy Leader, Syria); Abu Omar al-Shishani † (Field commander in Syria); Ali Husayn al-Ulaywi † (Leader of ISIS in Syria); Abu Khayr al-Masri † (al-Qaeda deputy leader); Abu Humam al-Shami †; (al-Nusra Military Chief and Leader of Hurras al-Din); Mohammed Islambouli (Leader of Khorasan); Muhsin al-Fadhli † (Leader of Khorasan); David Drugeon † (chief bombmaker) Ahmed al-Sharaa (Emir of Tahrir al-Sham (2017–2025)); Abu Jaber Sheikh (Emir of Ahrar al-Sham (2014–2015); Abu Yahia al-Hamawi (Emir of Ahrar al-Sham (2015–2017))
Units involved
Elements of: U.S. Army; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Navy; U.S. Air Force; U.S. Space Force; U.S. Coast Guard; Coalition Joint Forces Land Component Command-Iraq;	Military of IS Wilayat al-Iraq; Wilayat al-Sham;
Strength
United States: 4,400 troops (in Iraq) ; 2,500 troops (in Kuwait) ; 7,000 contractors ; USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group ; USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group (replaced USS George H.W. Bush in late October 2014) ; USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group (replaced USS Carl Vinson in late March 2015, departed in October 2015) ; USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group (replaced USS Theodore Roosevelt in December 2015) ; USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group (replaced USS Harry S. Truman in June 2016, departed in late December 2016) ; USS George H. W. Bush carrier strike group (replaced USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in February 2017) ; F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft ; AV-8B Harrier II & A-10 Thunderbolt ground-attack aircraft ; B-1 Lancer and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft ; Lockheed AC-130 gunships ; EA-6B Prowler & EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft ; Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft ; Lockheed U-2, Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS & Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft ; Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker & McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft ; Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters ; MH-60M Black Hawk multi-mission helicopters ; MQ-1 Predator & MQ-9 Reaper unmanned ground-attack aircraft ; RQ-4 Global Hawk & Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned surveillance aircraft ; North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco ;	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: 9,000 to 18,000 (CIA estimate, January 2015); 20,000 to 200,000 (peak, late 2014); 3 MiG-21 or MiG-23 aircraft; At least 600 tanks; At least 5 drones; al-Qaeda: Khorasan: 50; Jund al-Aqsa: 2,100; Islamic Front Ahrar al-Sham: 26,000–30,000+; Syrian Salvation Government Tahrir al-Sham: 50,000+;
Casualties and losses
United States 23 hostile deaths; 93 non-hostile deaths; 492 (WIA); 18 civilians killed; (5 executed and 1 unknown); 1 F-16 crashed and 1 F-15 damaged; 2 helicopters lost (CH-53 Sea Stallion); 4 MQ-1 Predator drones shot down;	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: 80,000+ killed by American and allied airstrikes; 32,000+ targets destroyed or damaged (as of 30 September 2016) 164 tanks; 388 HMMWVs; 2,638 pieces of oil infrastructure; 1,000+ fuel tanker trucks; 2,000+ pick-up trucks, VBIEDs, and other vehicles; ; (per coalition) al-Qaeda: 400+ killed; Islamic Front Ahrar ash-Sham:; 3 killed; Syrian Salvation Government: Tahrir al-Sham:; 6 killed;
	Tens of thousands of civilians killed by IS (per Iraqi Body Count and SOHR); Between 8,220 and 13,299 civilians killed by Coalition airstrikes in Syria and Iraq (per Airwars); 1,437 civilians killed by Coalition Operations (per AirWars); Over 970,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria displaced, or fled to Turkey and other countries

U.S. soldiers from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division supported by an Apache helicopter and a tank in Syria during Operation Inherent Resolve, 23 November 2020

Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) was the United States military's operational name for the international war against the Islamic State (IS)—a group also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or its Arab acronym "Daesh"—including both a campaign in Iraq and a campaign in Syria, with a closely related campaign in Libya.

Through 18 September 2018, the U.S. Army's III Armored Corps was responsible for Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF—OIR) and were replaced by the XVIII Airborne Corps. The campaign was primarily waged by American and British forces in support of local allies, most prominently the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Combat ground troops, mostly special forces, infantry, and artillery have also been deployed, especially in Iraq. Of the airstrikes, some 80% have been conducted by the military of the United States, with the rest by the United Kingdom (Operation Shader), Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

By October 2017, around the time of IS's territorial defeat in Iraq, CJTF—OIR claimed that around 80,000 IS militants had been killed by it and its allies (excluding those targeted by Russian and Syrian air strikes). According to the Pentagon, by March 2019, the day of IS's territorial defeat in Syria, CJTF—OIR and its partner forces had liberated nearly 110,000 square kilometers (42,471 square miles) of land and 7.7 million people from IS, the vast majority of the self-proclaimed caliphate's territory and subjects. By the end of August 2019, it had conducted 34,573 strikes. Tens of thousands more were killed by partner forces on the ground (the SDF alone claimed to have killed 25,336 IS fighters by the end of 2017). According to Airwars, between 8,220 and 13,299 civilians were killed in the airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, with an additional 1,437 civilians killed in other operations.