Expect More Headline-Grabbing Attacks from ISIS

ISIS will likely try to conduct “high-profile, headline-grabbing attacks” as Ramadan begins because the terrorist group will not be able to make tactical gains on the ground, said Col. Chris Garver, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve on Wednesday. ISIS wants to shock, by using tactics such as the large-scale bombings that rattled Baghdad last month. The coalition is focused on the Iraqi military’s effort to retake the city of Fallujah, providing clearing fires and “hundreds of hours” of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance flights to help “build the intel picture” of the battle, Garver said. The Iraqi military recently dropped leaflets on the city instructing civilians to place sheets on their roofs to help avoid civilian casualties in possible strikes. The coalition has continued targeting the ISIS oil infrastructure in Iraq and Syria, with a total of 125 so-called “Tidal Wave II” strikes conducted so far on oil facilities and trucks used to transport illicit oil, Garver said. (See also: ISIS Attacks Are Attempts to Gain Attention.)