Finally going for Raqqa

Well, Mosul has taken a while….and it is not quite over yet. Now we are finally going after Raqqa. Some say it will be quicker (hard to imagine that it could be slower): https://uk.news.yahoo.com/battle-liberate-raqqa-isis-apos-152800876.html

A few highlights from the article:

  1. Awad of the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) says it will be quicker. Not sure what his expertise is.
  2. Raqqa has (or had) a population of 300,000 (compared to Mosul which had 1.3 million).
  3. SDF has 45,000 people of which 13,000 are Arab fighters (and most of the rest are Kurds?).
  4. They are 1 km away from Raqqa in the east, and 3 km away in the west and north.
  5. The U.S. estimates 3,000 to 4,000 ISIL fighters in Raqqa.
  6. Turkey is not particularly happy with the SDF.

 

 

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Christopher A. Lawrence
Christopher A. Lawrence

Christopher A. Lawrence is a professional historian and military analyst. He is the Executive Director and President of The Dupuy Institute, an organization dedicated to scholarly research and objective analysis of historical data related to armed conflict and the resolution of armed conflict. The Dupuy Institute provides independent, historically-based analyses of lessons learned from modern military experience.

Mr. Lawrence was the program manager for the Ardennes Campaign Simulation Data Base, the Kursk Data Base, the Modern Insurgency Spread Sheets and for a number of other smaller combat data bases. He has participated in casualty estimation studies (including estimates for Bosnia and Iraq) and studies of air campaign modeling, enemy prisoner of war capture rates, medium weight armor, urban warfare, situational awareness, counterinsurgency and other subjects for the U.S. Army, the Defense Department, the Joint Staff and the U.S. Air Force. He has also directed a number of studies related to the military impact of banning antipersonnel mines for the Joint Staff, Los Alamos National Laboratories and the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation.

His published works include papers and monographs for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation, in addition to over 40 articles written for limited-distribution newsletters and over 60 analytical reports prepared for the Defense Department. He is the author of Kursk: The Battle of Prokhorovka (Aberdeen Books, Sheridan, CO., 2015), America’s Modern Wars: Understanding Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam (Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia & Oxford, 2015), War by Numbers: Understanding Conventional Combat (Potomac Books, Lincoln, NE., 2017) and The Battle of Prokhorovka (Stackpole Books, Guilford, CT., 2019)

Mr. Lawrence lives in northern Virginia, near Washington, D.C., with his wife and son.

Articles: 1455

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