An explosion following a coalition airstrike in October near Syria’s border with Turkey. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
On Wednesday, it appeared that the daily tally of airstrikes in Iraq in Syria that is provided to reporters had been rechristened as the “Daily Strike.”
That sounded like a pretty good name for a morning defense-related tip sheet, as in, “Start your day with the Daily Strike – We put warheads on foreheads.”
But, after FlightLines contacted the combined joint task force in charge of the war against the Islamic State, it quickly became clear there is no “Daily Strike” morning roundup.
Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve regularly sends emails to reporters listing which targets in Iraq and Syria have been struck in the past 24 hours. Wednesday’s email began with, “Please find today’s Daily Strike attached and below.”
That prompted Time reporter Mark Thompson to tweet: “DoD has started naming its ISIS-bombing releases the ‘Daily Strike.’ Like Lucky Strike, only LSMFT = Lets Smite Muslim Fanatic Terrorists.”
It turns out that “Daily Strike” was a truncated version of the email’s full name, said Army Capt. John J. Moore, a spokesman for the combined joint task force.
“The correct name is ‘(Date) CJTF OIR News Release – Military Airstrikes & Airstrike Totals,’” Moore explained in an email Wednesday to Air Force Times.
Henceforth, it will always be called that, he said.
“There was an error made in the naming convention during our personnel turnover,” Moore said. “In the event you see it by any other name, please know that what I said in the first line is its correct name.”
