The US-led coalition has helped to reduce the effectiveness of the suicide-vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (SVBIEDs) that the Islamic State fighters defending Mosul are using against Iraqi forces, Colonel Brett Sylvia, the commander of the Task Force Strike advise-and-assist mission, told journalists on 11 January. "We have measurably reduced the effectiveness of ISIL's primary weapon system, the vehicle-borne IED, and we've assisted in the targeting of ISIL's drones, bringing down almost a dozen," he said using an abbreviation for the Islamic State's previous name.
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