The U.S. military has adopted Israel’s so-called “knock-on-the-roof” bombing tactic to minimize civilian casualties when attacking ISIS targets, a Pentagon spokesman disclosed in a briefing Tuesday. This development, combined with the successful testing last week of Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile technology in the U.S., points to the strengthened military cooperation between the two allied countries over the past few years.

The U.S. military had identified and monitored an ISIS “finance emir” in Mosul, Iraq earlier this month, Maj. Gen. Peter E. Gersten told reporters. “He was the major distributor of funds to Daesh fighters,” Gersten said, using another name for ISIS. “We watched him come and go from his house, we watched his supplies, we watched the security that was involved in it. And we also watched occasionally a female and her children in and out of the quarters.”

The military decided to explode a Hellfire missile in the air above the building “so it wouldn’t destroy the building, simply knock on the roof to ensure that she and the children were out of the building,” Gersten explained. “And then we proceeded with our operations.” The spokesman acknowledged the Israeli influence, saying, “That’s exactly where we took the tactics and technique and procedure from.” The military also dropped leaflets warning of the attack, reminiscent of phone calls and text messages that the IDF has made to civilians in Hamas-heavy areas that may be targeted.

The woman in Mosul left the building, allowing the U.S. to begin airstrike procedures. But then she ran back into the building in the final seconds before launch, Gersten said. The Pentagon believes that the finance emir and the female are likely dead.

The Pentagon also disclosed that it had conducted the first successful test of Iron Dome in the U.S. last month at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The missile successfully hit a target drone, and also intercepted targets when firing newer missiles adapted to the Army’s specifications. The Pentagon plans to deploy Iron Dome with two active-duty and seven National Guard battalions beginning in 2019, Defense Update reported.

[Photo: U.S. Army]