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The Devastation of Gaza Was Inevitable: A Comparison to U.S. Operations in Iraq and Syria
(Foreign Policy) Barry Posen - When war is fought among civilians, civilians are killed. When the Allies bombed German forces in France prior to the June 1944 Normandy invasion, some 20,000 French civilians who had the misfortune of living near ports, bridges, roads, or railroad infrastructure were killed in these attacks and during the subsequent two months of ground and air operations. In the campaign to destroy 3,000-5,000 Islamic State fighters in Mosul, Iraq, from October 2016 to July 2017, some 9,000-11,000 civilians died, at least a third of them from coalition fire. Some 65% of residential construction was damaged or destroyed. In the campaign against 2,900-5,600 Islamic State fighters in Raqqa, Syria, from June to October 2017, the bodies of 4,100 civilians were found under the rubble. NGOs estimated that 774-1,600 civilian casualties were caused by coalition fire. Some 60-80% of buildings were rendered uninhabitable. Hamas presented Israel with a more difficult military problem than Mosul or Raqqa. Hamas had three times the combat power that Islamic State had in either Mosul or Raqqa. This alone would produce a significantly more difficult and destructive offensive campaign. Hamas were also well equipped with assault rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket launchers, mortars, and anti-tank guided missiles. A well-trained and well-armed infantry force becomes formidable in an urban environment, which favors tactical defense because it provides the defender with concealment and cover. Buildings provide multiple hiding places. Basements offer natural bunkers. Tall buildings provide firing positions and unobstructed fields of fire, while enabling observation of enemy movements. It should not be a surprise, therefore, that the IDF now finds itself destroying a great many structures in Gaza. Given America's own recent military history, it does not have much ethical ground to stand on in decrying Israeli strategy. Israel is not doing anything that the U.S. and its Arab allies have not done recently. When the U.S. is provoked, it is historically quite ferocious. Collateral damage results. The writer is Professor of Political Science at the Security Studies Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.