US fight against ISIS nears $3 billion

The U.S. has spent nearly $3 billion in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Pentagon said in an update Tuesday.

As of June 18, the total cost of operations since August is $2.91 billion, Pentagon spokesman Bill Urban said.

The average cost per day of $9.2 million has ticked up slightly since the last update in early June, Urban added. At that time, the average daily cost was about $9.1 million.

{mosads}A bulk of the expenses, 54 percent, has been spent on airstrikes, said the Defense Department, which broke down the average costs from August through mid-June.

Just under a quarter has been spent on weapons, and the rest has been spent on missions involving military carriers and other operations.

Until U.S. airstrikes expanded to Syria in mid-September, the average daily cost totaled $5.6 million. From mid-September through mid-June, the average daily cost increased to $9.8 million.

The U.S. surpassed the $2 billion mark in April in its campaign against ISIS, having passed the $1 billion mark in December.

In August, the U.S. began launching airstrikes against the terrorist group in Iraq and expanded the airstrikes to Syria September.