http://lobelog.com/coalition-air-campaign-against-is-report-card/#more-31627

Coalition Air Campaign Against IS: Report Card

by Derek Davison
It has now been over 14 months since the Obama administration authorized the first strikes in Iraq against the Islamic State (ISIS or IS), and roughly 13 months since that campaign expanded to include IS targets in Syria. The campaign, called Operation Inherent Resolve, has, according to Pentagon figures, so far involved over 7,600 airstrikes against IS targets and has cost over $4 billion.
Looking back on the past year plus, it’s difficult to identify where Inherent Resolve has actually produced any sustained successes, though admittedly it’s impossible to know what shape IS would be in if the bombing campaign had never started. Yes, coalition air power helped the Iraqi army and its allied Shi?a militias to recapture the city of Tikrit from IS in late March. But the coalition wasn’t able to do much to prevent IS from taking the city of Ramadi, in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, in May. Also in May, and also despite coalition airstrikes, IS was able to capture the city of Tadmur, in central Syria, and the nearby ancient ruins at Palmyra. In the last couple of weeks, IS has made new advances toward the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, despite both the coalition air campaign and the new Russian-led air campaign (though there are legitimate questions as to whether and how much that Russian campaign is really targeting IS).http://lobelog.com/coalition-air-campaign-against-is-report-card/#more-31627