TY  - JOUR
A1  - Cantenar, Ömer Faruk
A1  - Kozera, Cyprian Aleksander
T1  - Fighting ISIS in Syria
BT  - Operation Euphrates Shield and the lessons learned from the al-Bab Battle
JF  - Small wars & insurgencies
N2  - This paper analyses the Operation Euphrates Shield (OES) al-Bab battle and presents the lessons learned. OES started with a mixed force of Free Syrian Army, Turkish special forces and armoured units. During the operation, the aims and the force structure gradually changed, yet not the command structure. When OES aimed to capture al-Bab, ISIS employed conventional active defence strategy. The OES commander's insistence on employing special forces increased own casualties and al-Bab was seized only after resorting to a conventional urban attack. OES presents tactical and operational lessons for the militaries on structure and execution of operations against an irregular adversary employing conventional means.
KW  - Operation Euphrates Shield
KW  - Turkish military in Syria
KW  - al-Bab Battle
KW  - ISIS
KW  - proxy force
KW  - urban warfare
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2021.1875308
SN  - 0959-2318
SN  - 1743-9558
VL  - 33
IS  - 3
SP  - 350
EP  - 381
PB  - Routledge
CY  - Basingstoke
ER  -