The Many Lessons Learned from the Battle of Mosul

In this Article, Mt. Kander discusses the unexpected tactics and technologies encountered in the battle for Mosul, which marked the end of a three year occupation by the Islamic State, and had been the largest defensive campaign yet in the war against ISIS.

The battle for the city of Mosul in northern Iraq marked the largest combat operation anywhere in the world in nearly 15 years. The scale, duration and particularly the intensity of this military campaign, was a facet of warfare that had not been seen in decades — making it easily comparable to many military campaigns that had taken place as far back as the second world war.

The operation commenced on October 7th of last year, when a coalition ground force of over 100,000 personnel converged on the city of Mosul from five different directions. This ground force was mostly comprised of Iraqi military and police, but also had many Shia Islamic militiamen, as well as a few U.S. advisers operating within it...continue reading on MTK