US aircraft are picking off ISIS militants in stranded desert convoy ‘one by one’

A convoy used by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has become a death trap for fighters with the radical Islamic terrorist group. American planes have carried out a number of air strikes on ISIS forces while largely avoiding civilian casualties.

According to multiple reports and Pentagon spokesmen, the convoy consisted of 17 buses that were departing an ISIS-held enclave after striking a deal with the radical Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah and the Syrian army. However, the United States scrambled assets to attack the convoy, and cratered the road ahead of the busses.

While six of the vehicles turned back towards the city of Palmyra, the other 11 have been stranded for at least 10 days. Since then, they have become almost irresistible bait for the terrorist group. Over 85 terrorists have been hit by coalition air strikes since the convoy was stranded. This has saved the United States and the rest of the anti-ISIS coalition the time and effort of hunting them down.

The U.S.-lead anti-ISIS coalition has allowed deliveries of food and water to the convoy, to which ISIS fighters have been drawn to "[l]ike moths to the flame," according to comments by DOD spokesman Ryan Dillon, an Army colonel.

"We were able to exploit it and take advantage," he said, noting that over 40 vehicles, from technicals to a tank, have been hit trying to aid the convoy. "We were able to continue to just observe and pick them off one at a time," Col. Dillon added.

The experienced ISIS troops have also apparently grown frustrated during the siege. During one of the deliveries, an internal squabble broke out.

"You could clearly tell they were going to fisticuffs," Dillon said. There was no word on whether the internal fighting among the ISIS terrorists saved the coalition additional trouble.