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Urban warfare is warfare conducted in populated urban areas such as towns and cities. The U.S. military term is MOUT, or (Military Operations on Urban Terrain). The British military term is FIBUA (Fighting in Built-Up Areas), although it has been called OBUA (Operations in Built-Up Areas) and FISH (Fighting in Someones House) in the past. The term FOFO (Fighting in Fortified Objectives) is used when soldiers are involved in clearing enemy personnel from narrow and entrenched places like bunkers, trenches and strongholds, though FOFO also meant the dismantling of mines and wires, not to mention to secure footholds in enemy areas.

Warfare inside a city is very different from a traditional open-field battle against a conventional army. A complicating factor of urban warfare is the presence of civilians, sometimes as combatants of various sorts, ranging from armed militias and gangs to people defending their homes against all comers, usually with many innocent non-combatants trying to stay out of the way of the battling forces. The military operations are also complicated by limited fields of view and fire because of buildings, large amounts of concealment and cover for defenders and the ease of placement of booby traps and snipers. This brought a new force into military tactics.

Tactics

Traditional World War II military operations often relied on large quantities of artillery fire, which many modern armies will try to avoid as a way of reducing civilian casualties. A notable exception to this was the Russian attack on Grozny in which large amounts of artillery fire were used. The Russian army handled the issue of civilian casualities by warning that the city would be levelled and that any civilian should leave the city before the attack began.

Fighting in an urban landscape can offer some advantages to the weaker faction in a war against a stronger foe. This is due to several reasons:

1. A populated city is much harder to conquer than an open field. This is because an invading force must expend massive amounts of manpower to secure a myriad of structures without indiscriminately bombing them.
2. The urbanized city is much easier to defend because it has many tall buildings, narrow alleys and sewage tunnels. The buildings can provide excellent sniping posts while the alleys are ideal for planting booby traps.
3. International law prohibits the use of heavy firepower and indiscriminate bombing in civilian-populated settings. Thus, the party barricading in a city will not have to face warplanes, heavy artillery and massive tank assault if it faces an army that cares to operate in a legal manner.

Nevertheless few would deliberately "choose" urban warfare: after all, the purpose of having an army is to prevent damages to one's own civilian population and infrastructure. It is always forced upon the weaker side of a conflict, and the best it can hope for is to make a virtue out of a necessity.

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq most US casualties there have been in urban or sub-urban settings, despite the fact that the U.S. forces suffered very few casualties during the initial invasion. This demonstrates the difficulty even the best-equipped armies can face when forced to fight in close quarters.

The Israeli Defence Forces developed special tactics of MOUT, resulting in very low casualties to the occupying force (about 250 soldiers in 4 years of fighting). These tactics include:

• Non linear advance of forces, swarming the AO (area of operations) from all directions.
• Use of tanks and heavily-protected APCs to mobilize troops and protect them from enemy's fire.
• Use of armored bulldozers to:
  1. clear path to friendly forces: both vehicles and infantry.
  2. safely detonate booby traps and IEDs.
  3. to battle gunmen barricading in rigged buildings.
  4. destroy or create ground obstacles.
• Use of superior Close-quarters-combat (CQB) technologies such as advanced red-dot sights, night vision devices, body armor and advanced C4IS systems.
• Use of UAVs to provide intelligence and full battle picture.
• Use of helicopter gunships to target specific threats such as rocket launchers and RPG squads.
• Razing of large swaths of urban areas, thus levelling the battlefield
• Use of deathsquads to eliminate terrorist leaders and sympathisers before they can engage in urban warfare

CQB

CQB, and CQC, are acronyms for Close Quarters Battle and Close Quarters Combat respectively, and refers to fighting methods within buildings, streets, narrow alleys and other places where visibility and maneuverability are limited.

Both CQB and MOUT are related to urban warfare, but while MOUT refers mainly to the macromanagement factor (i.e. sending troops, using of heavy armoured fighting vehicles, battle management), CQB refers to the micromanagement factor—namely: how a small squad of infantry troops should fight in urban environments and/or inside buildings in order to achieve its goals with minimal casualties.

As a doctrine, CQB concerns topics such as:

• Weapons and ammunition most suitable for the mission
• Extra gear, such as bulletproof vests and night vision devices
• Accurate explosives
• Routines and drills for engaging the enemy, securing a perimeter, clearing a room, etc.
• Team maneuvers
• Methods and tactics

It should be noted that military CQB doctrine is different from police CQB doctrine, mainly because the military usually operates in hostile areas while the police operates within friendly populations.

Armies that often engage in urban warfare operation may train most of their infantry in CQB doctrine.

Famous urban battles in modern times

• Stalingrad, USSR (Battle of Stalingrad) (1942-1943)
• Warsaw, Poland (Siege of Warsaw 1939, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 1943, Warsaw Uprising 1944)
• Ortona, Italy (1944)
• Budapest, Hungary (1945). After a 14-week siege the city fell to Soviet troops. Almost 70% of Buda was destroyed.
• Berlin, Germany (1945)
• Seoul, Korea (1950-1951)
• Battle of Algiers (1956-1962)
• Huế, Vietnam (1968)
• Beirut, Lebanon (1980s) see: History of Lebanon
• Panama City, Panama (1989)
• Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995)
• Grozny, Chechnya (1996, 1999 and even today)
• Mogadishu, Somalia (1992-1993)
• Jenin, the West Bank (April 2002)
• Fallujah, Iraq, (2004)(Operation Vigilant Resolve and Operation Phantom Fury)

See also

• Hand to hand combat
• Asymmetric warfare
• Low-intensity operations
• Urban Warrior
• Land Warrior
• Urban guerrilla
• Combatives
• Commando
• Sayeret
• Mouse-holing (tactic)

External links

• Handbook for Joint Urban Operations
• Full Spectrum Warrior (Game simulating MOUT Tactics)
• NLF: Urban Warfare Cell

Template:Link FA

• Urban warfare