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Recent conflicts are challenging the world’s military
powers with Urban Low-Intensity Conflict (Urban-LIC) warfare. This
type of operation requires new strategies and operations that are
significantly different from classic Military Operations in Urban
Terrain (MOUT), which considered the urban area as one of many
topographic terrain models, but rarely addressed the unique human
factors of a live city. In recent years, insurgents around the world
realized the benefits of operations from and within friendly
populations: Efficient concealment for personnel, infrastructure and
communications, contributing to pervasive close-encounters by small
groups. Using hand guns, improvised explosives and suicide bombings
with high precision and devastating effect have become common in
recent years in Western Asia – from Chechnya through the Gaza strip to
Iraq.
“A basic lesson we learned is the importance of preemption. We cannot
wait until suicide bombers or terrorists make their way to the target,
or rockets are launched at our cities," - Brig. General Ido Nehushtan,
Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander, IAF told Defense Update. "When
pursued where commanders and planners are lurking at their hideouts in
the cities, we dramatically reduced the number of terror attacks in
our population centers."
After years of continuous fighting, the IDF has adopted three
practical modes of operation. Two are adapted to ground operations in
the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip. The third evolved into "aerial
domination" of an urban area, and is currently practiced with
considerable success by the Israeli forces over the Gaza strip.
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