https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7509-1045
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ABSTRACT
This paper analyses the Operation Euphrates Shield (OES) al-Bab battle and presents the lessons learned. OES started with a mixed force of Free Syrian Army, Turkish special forces and armoured units. During the operation, the aims and the force structure gradually changed, yet not the command structure. When OES aimed to capture al-Bab, ISIS employed conventional active defence strategy. The OES commander’s insistence on employing special forces increased own casualties and al-Bab was seized only after resorting to a conventional urban attack. OES presents tactical and operational lessons for the militaries on structure and execution of operations against an irregular adversary employing conventional means.
Disclosure statement
The authors hereby confirm that they have no conflict of interest to declare.
Notes
1. Yeşiltaş et al., Operation Euphrates Shield Implementation.
2. Kasapoğlu, “Turkey at the Gates of Al-Bab”; and Kasapoğlu and Ülgen, “Operation Euphrates Shield and the al-Bab Campaign.”
3. Hart, Why don’t We Learn, 27.
4. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15.
5. Moelker, “Being One of the Guys,” 105.
6. Kösebalaban, “Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy,” 5.
7. Grimaldi and Koru, “Is the Islamic State Trying to Draw Turkey’s.”
8. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 3.
9. Koru, “The Syrian Civil War.”
10. Grimaldi and Koru, “Is the Islamic State Trying to Draw Turkey.”
11. Natali, “Turkey”s Kurdish Red Line.”
12. Gürcan, “Turkey Reaches Critical Crossroads.”
13. Natali, “Turkey’s Kurdish Red Line.”
14. Gürcan, “What’s Turkey really up to in Syria.”
15. Yeşiltaş et al., Operation Euphrates Shield Implementation, 22.
16. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 5.
17. See note 14 above.
18. The base map is created and marked by the authors and the minor map is from Anadolu Agency.
19. Yeşiltaş et al., Operation Euphrates Shield Implementation, 26.
20. See note 12 above.
21. See note 19 above.
22. Shay, The Fall of Dabiq, 1.
23. Yeşiltaş et al., Operation Euphrates Shield Implementation, 28.
24. See note 22 above.
25. See note 23 above.
26. Jager, “Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield.”
27. Ibid.
28. Kasapoğlu, “Turkey at the Gates of Al-Bab,” 7.
29. See note 26 above.
30. Can and Ülgen, “Operation Euphrates Shield and the al-Bab Campaign,” 1.
31. See note 26 above.
32. Gürcan, “What Comes Next for Turkey.”
33. cf. e.g. Hurriyet, “Dabık’tan sonra hedef..”.
34. See note 12 above.
35. See note 26 above.
36. Komar, “Turkey’s Syria Intervention.”
37. Stein and Komar, “In Syria, Turkey Finds itself boxed.”
38. Yeşiltaş et al., Operation Euphrates Shield Implementation, 30.
39. Kasapoğlu, “The Stage is Set for an Escalation.”
40. Beccaro, “Modern Irregular Warfare”; and Cronin, “ISIS is not a Terrorist Group.”
41. Maurer, “ISIS’s Warfare Functions,” 230.
42. Knights and Mello, “The Cult of the Offensive,” 6.
43. Ibid., 3.
44. Ibid., 6.
45. Megahan and Tahiroglu, “Turkey is on a collision course.”
46. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 8.
47. Ibid., 6.
48. Beccaro, “Modern Irregular Warfare,” 218.
49. Warefaretoday, “General Milley Exposes the Myths.”
50. See note 32 above.
51. See note 37 above.
52. Yeşiltaş et al., Operation Euphrates Shield Implementation, 31.
53. Kasapoğlu, “Turkey at the Gates of Al-Bab,” 10.
54. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 5.
55. Gürcan, “What’s the holdup in Turkey’s.”
56. Spencer, “Why Militaries Must Destroy.”
57. See note 53 above.
58. Gürcan, “Turkey’s Euphrates Shield reaches.”
59. Stein et al., “Post Conflict Stabilization.”
60. Kasapoğlu, “Turkey at the Gates of Al-Bab,” 8.
61. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 9.
62. Abdulrazaq and Gareth, “The Enemy Within: ISIS,” 525.
63. Maurer, “ISIS’s Warfare Functions,” 229.
64. Knights and Mello, “The Cult of the Offensive,” 6.
65. Ibid., 3.
66. See note 36 above.
67. See note 32 above.
68. See note 36 above.
69. Kasapoğlu and Ülgen, “Operation Euphrates Shield and the al-Bab Campaign,” 7.
70. Knights and Mello, “The Cult of the Offensive,” 5.
71. Daily Mail, “Truck bombs: the Islamic.”
72. Beccaro, “Modern Irregular Warfare,” 217.
73. Kasapoğlu, “Turkey at the Gates of Al-Bab,” 4.
74. See note 37 above.
75. Nightingale, “The Dangers of The Benefits.”
76. Michel, “Dispelling Myths About Special.”
77. Baudet and Sibull, “Historical Research in the Military Domain,” 74.
78. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 5.
79. See note 1 above.
80. See: NATO, “Rapid Deployable Corps”.
81. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 15.
82. Kasapoğlu and Ülgen, “Operation Euphrates Shield and the al-Bab Campaign.”
83. Gabrielsen, “Military Strategy and the Conduct,” 439.
84. See note 26 above.
85. Triebert, “The Battle for al-Bab.”
86. Douglas, “The Relevance of Armor,” 80.
87. Groh, Proxy War, 12.
88. See note 37 above.
89. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 7.
90. Groh, Proxy War, 24.
91. Ibid., 207.
92. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–15 July 2019.
93. Collins, “The Warlord on Special Operations.”
94. Knights and Mello, “The Cult of the Offensive,” 3.
95. Ibid., 4.
96. Gürcan, Assessing the Post–July 15, 9.
97. Katagiri, “ISIL, Insurgent Strategies,” 549.
98. Baudet and Sibull, “Historical Research in the Military Domain,” 69.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ömer Faruk Cantenar
Ömer Faruk Cantenar, PhD Retired from Turkish Army in September 2017, he had served in Syria as a brigade commander during the Operation Euphrates Shield from October 2016 until August 2017. Previously, he had worked as a research advisor in NATO Defence College in Rome and as the Director of Operations in the Resolute Support Mission Train Advise and Assist Command Capital, in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2015. Before that, Dr Cantenar had served as the Chief of the Education and Training Department in the NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism, in Ankara, from 2013 to 2015. He had been also a lecturer in Turkish Military Academy and taught graduate level courses, on ‘Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism’ and ‘Internal Security Policies’. He had been affiliated with Turkish Special Forces for more than ten years. During this time, he was deployed on various overseas missions in Bosnia Herzegovina and Northern Iraq. He holds an MBA degree from Bilkent University and a PhD degree in Security Strategies Management from Turkish Police Academy. He can be contacted at: [email protected]
Cyprian Aleksander Kozera
Cyprian Aleksander Kozera, PhD, is an officer in the army reserve and a lecturer (assistant professor) at the War Studies University in Warsaw, Poland. He holds a PhD degree in Security Studies from the Polish National Defence University. He has completed several workshops and programmes in the NATO Centre of Excellence – Defence Against Terrorism, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, European Security and Defence College, European Security Academy and the European Academy of Diplomacy. Dr Kozera has a field-research experience from the Balkans, Iraq, Israel, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mali. In 2014, he was awarded Veteran’s Star for Missions Abroad and Service for Peace by the Polish Association of the United Nations Peacekeeping Veterans. He can be contacted at: [email protected].