US troops found rockets and bombs on island ISIS was using ‘like a hotel’

On Sept. 10, 2019, US Air Force F-15 Strike Eagles and F-35 Lightning II aircraft dropped 80,000 pounds of ordnance on 37 targets on Qanus Island in Iraq's Tigris River. Approximately 25 Islamic State (ISIS) fighters were killed in the operation, according to Sabah Al-Numaan, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS).

Al-Numaan told Insider that US aircraft hit 37 targets, "trenches and caves," on the island ISIS fighters were using as a stopoff on the way into Iraq from Syria. The island, which has thick vegetation, was "like a hotel for Daesh," Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab Al-Saadi, commander of the Iraqi CTS told Insider, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Lt. Gen. Al-Saadi's team made a sweep of the island after it was partially destroyed by US strikes. He told Insider that his team found rocket-propelled grenade launchers (RPGs), several rockets, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). A spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve confirmed on Sept. 10, 2019, that a weapons cache was found on the island after the air strike.

Lt. Gen. Al-Saadi said that US drones had provided surveillance data for the secret operation, and that there were no civilians on the island.

(OIR Spokesman Myles B. Caggins / US Air Force / Twitter)

One of the reasons the island was an ideal hideout for ISIS militants on the move was the absence of Iraqi troops nearby, Lt. Gen. Al-Saadi said. According to a Pentagon Inspector General report on Operation Inherent Resolve, the US operation in Iraq, Iraqi security forces on the whole don't have the infrastructure to consistently counter ISIS.

Part of Qanus Island was destroyed in the airstrike, Al-Numaan, the CTS spokesperson told Insider. "The important [thing is] that Daesh lose this area and they cannot use [it]."

ISIS has ramped up its presence in Iraq and Syria since the US drew down troop presence in Syria and decreased its diplomatic presence in Iraq. Although President Donald Trump proclaimed that ISIS's caliphate was completely defeated at a July cabinet meeting, there are still an estimated 14,000 to 18,000 ISIS fighters. Combatants in Iraq and Syria continue to carry out suicide bombings, crop burnings, and assassinations.

This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Follow @BusinessInsider on Twitter.