The airstrikes in Syria that the U.S. and allies began this week have been aimed at facilities the Islamic State (ISIS) uses to support their terrorist activities, including command and control centers, oil refineries, and finance centers, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
While military officials were still assessing the damage, Kirby said reports indicated the airstrikes were successful in "hitting what we are aiming at."
"We're getting at their ability as an organization to lead and command and control themselves. That's the function of the strikes inside Syria. We're not chasing them down sidewalks. We're going after the kind of infrastructure and facilities that they use to sustain themselves," Kirby said Thursday.
Taking out those targets would have a "strategic effect" on ISIS, Kirby explained, but admitted it was "going to be a long struggle."
"This isn't something that we're just going to fix in a couple nights of airstrikes, or even a couple of months of airstrikes. In fact, airstrikes alone aren't going to be enough. Military power's not going to be enough," he said.
Kirby said what would result in long lasting changes to the region was "good governance" in Syria and Iraq, which he said "takes time."
Iraqi security forces, which had initially abandoned their weapons when ISIS first advanced, thereby allowing them to seize large swaths of territory, were now "fighting back," Kirby said.
"They have adequately and sufficiently defended Baghdad. They still are stiffening their defenses around the capital city. They have retaken the Mosul Dam facility, not just the dam, the entire facility," he said.
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