Urban warfare: an age-old problem in need of new solutions

ICRC Humanitarian Law and Policy Blog · May 20, 2021 · 22m

Urban warfare is not a new phenomenon; cities have featured as a stage for violence since humans began building them, and images in recent years – from Aleppo, Mosul, and Sana’a to Marawi, Mogadishu, Donetsk, and Mekelle – leave little room for doubt that towns and cities will remain primary battlegrounds for future armed conflicts. We can expect belligerents to continue using traditional methods such as sieges, tunnels, booby traps, artillery, mortars and snipers and complement these with modern capabilities such as new technologies of warfare and precision. Against this evolving backdrop…