Urban Warfare Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025, Proceedings of the Annual University Scientific Conference (Print), Vol. 8, pp. 217-228. Veliko Tarnovo: “V. Levski” National Military University Publishing Complex, June 05-06, 2025. ISSN 1314-1937.

The principle of proportionality is a cornerstone of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), ensuring that military operations balance military advantage with the protection of civilians. This article explores the legal basis and historical evolution of proportionality, then examines its contemporary challenges amid technological advancements, asymmetric warfare, and new conflict modalities such as cyber warfare and autonomous weapons. Through a comparative legal analysisdrawing on historical treaties, doctrinal literature, and case studies-the study evaluates whether traditional interpretations of proportionality can adequately address modern conflicts or if they require redefinition.

2025

commenced work with the Department of Supply in 1960 and qualified as a Technical Officer in 1965. He has had a wide ranging career in various technical areas, including chemistry, photography, rocketry, propellant preparation, physical testing of propellants and ingredients, computer programming in Fortran, Basic and Pascal and is currently a Technical Officer 3 with Weapons Systems Analysis Group. He was involved in this project as a camera operator and in the data processing of the camera imgaes.

2025

In recent years, the Philippines has faced separatist movements such as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and terrorist activities linked to ISIS-affiliated groups like Abu Sayyaf. These groups, along with those seeking the independence of Bangsamoro from the Philippines, have been active in the southern islands of the country. Mindanao, where many of the Philippines' Muslims live, has always been a hotspot for religious violence and the movement of jihadist fighters from the Middle East, aiming to organize religious extremists under the banners of Salafism and Wahhabism. The region's dense forests, access to open waters, social poverty, high unemployment among youth, and the political demands of Muslims in the region have created fertile ground for the influence of radical religious movements. This situation evolved in such a way that, in the past, the Southeast Asian Islamic community was focused on organizing Islamic and jihadist groups in the region. As al-Qaeda's networks gained power in the Middle East, these local and regional demands shifted towards al-Qaeda, and after al-Qaeda's decline in the region, there was a growing inclination towards ISIS. Now, with the defeat of ISIS in the Middle East, discussions are emerging about the creation of an Islamic state in Bangsamoro within the Philippines, and more broadly, the future establishment of an "Islamic Nusantara State" in Southeast Asia. The key point in these movements is the dominance of Salafist and Wahhabist ideologies, followed by local and indigenous demands under the guise of a separatist military movement. Each group's defeat leads to the emergence of another group with a new name, and the reason these movements have not been eradicated and instead continue to morph is due to the foundational causes of their creationnamely, Salafi beliefs and local demands for independence and the establishment of an independent government based on Salafi teachings. As long as these two factors remain, one should not expect these movements to disappear entirely. In the past three years, the spread of Salafi ideologies in Southeast Asia has accelerated, and this momentum is closely tied to the repeated defeats of ISIS in the Middle East. The core principles of the "Tawhid and Hijrah Movement" in Egypt, later borrowed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to establish ISIS, emphasize migration (hijrah) and movement from one region to another. This strategy of ISIS's second front after the Middle East is approaching its final stages in Southeast Asia, posing a serious threat of establishing an "Islamic Nusantara State." The danger of this ISIS presence in Southeast Asia is much greater than the current challenges faced by the people of Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan. A brief look at the developments of extremist religious groups in the southern Philippines, particularly the Maute terrorist group, is needed. The Maute group, also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, is an extremist religious group based in the Muslim-majority southern Philippines. This group is primarily composed of members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and other foreign jihadist groups. The leadership of the Islamic State (IS) or the Islamic Call in the Lanao del Sur region of Mindanao in southern Philippines was led by Abdullah Maute. The group first made headlines during its conflict with the Philippine military in February 2016, when the military captured its main stronghold in the Butig area of Lanao del Sur, resulting in the death of Abdullah Maute's brother, Omar. Some local sources claim that Omar is alive and in hiding in one of the group's camps in the Mindanao islands. After these clashes, the Maute group placed remotely controlled bombs along routes to prevent the military's advance towards Butig.

2025, none

In a 3D built environment a drone can be used to approach a building by random vectors using Rhizome Manoeuvre techniques. Opponents have the option to use flying, crawling/walking, climbing (robots designed using animal/insectoid frames) to enter a structure through any available opening, and then move within that structure to various
levels/locations. Additional camera drones can enter a structure to augment co-opted CCTV systems using these to direct drone attacks.

2025, Global Savunma Dergisi Mart

Yazı Ukrayna’nın Rusya karşısında ilk aylarda süreci
kendine çeviren başarısı, arkasında yer
alan istihbarat ve teknolojik çalışmaları
değerlendirmektedir.

2025, JEP - JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCES

Geleneksel anlamda devletlerarası çatışmaları ifade etmek için kullanılan savaş kavramı günümüzde bu anlamının çok daha ötesinde meydana gelen durumları ifade etmektedir. Savaş olgusu uluslararası ilişkilerin yapısından kaynaklı olarak zaman içerisinde evirilmiştir. Soğuk Savaş'ın sona ermesi ve küreselleşme bu evrimde oldukça etkili parametrelerdir. Bu dönemden itibaren savaş olgusu önceki nesillerde yaşanandan daha ciddi bir değişim göstererek savaşın tanımı, aktörleri, taktikleri, stratejileri ve yürütülüş biçimlerinde kendini göstermiştir. Evirilen savaş olgusunun günümüzdeki türlerinden bir tanesi de vekâlet savaşlarıdır. Bu savaş türü, güçlü devletlerin kendilerine vekil olarak seçtikleri terör örgütleri aracılığıyla istediği bölgelere müdahale etmesi neticesinde doğmuştur. Bu çalışmada, önce savaş kavramının geçirdiği dönüşüm eski ve yeni savaşlar üzerinden değerlendirilmiştir. Daha sonra vekâlet savaşlarında vekil aktör olarak kullanılan örgütlerden biri olan PKK vd. uzantıları incelenmiştir.

2025, Revista de Geopolítica

Resumo: Cidades sempre foram espaços relevantes para guerras e, com a constante urbanização, sua centralidade fica mais evidente. Isso suscita o esforço acadêmico e militar de entender as peculiaridades da guerra urbana. Nesse sentido, este artigo busca traçar padrões e implicações do conflito urbano, a partir de um estudo de caso, empregando elementos da Teoria da Guerra de Carl von Clausewitz. Ao analisar a Batalha de Vukovar (1991)-na Guerra de Independência da Croácia-da qual as forças servo-iugoslavas, mesmo tendo derrotado as croatas, saíram estrategicamente enfraquecidas, o estudo ressaltou como o ambiente urbano implica maiores dificuldades táticas para os atacantes e precipita impasses estratégicos. Conclui-se pela necessidade da produção de conhecimento e expertise para defesa de cidades, devido às especificidades desse ambiente.

2025

Developing technologies that help protect our nation from threats at home and abroad is no small task. Whether on a foreign battlefield or in a hightraffic government building in America, we must have the means to thwart or minimize harm, and that typically means maintaining technological superiority over our potential enemies. Sandia National Laboratories, a national security laboratory, is developing a broad range of technologies to address that need. This issue of Sandia Technology outlines some of those technologies, which encompass Sandia's work in robotics, computing, integrated microsystems, and biotechnology. Integrating disparate technologies into practical, effective systems that bolster America's national security is Sandia's strength. Today's advanced technologieschemical, biological, nuclear, and information warfare-pose threats of greater harm than ever to the nation. As this issue shows, superior technologies, developed for the purposes of defense, can detect, locate, characterize, defend against and, if necessary, destroy these threats. Sandia remains ready to provide our nation with the technical capability to respond to threats against our armed forces, our citizens, or our survival as a free nation.

2025, Revista Internacional de Pensamiento Político

Este artículo analiza los procesos de radicalización violenta en los que está inmersa la ultraderecha desde una perspectiva interdisciplinar, combinando la crítica de la economía política marxiana, especialmente por las ventanas de oportunidad que genera la actual crisis capitalista, con elementos provenientes de la ciencia política y de la sociología del comportamiento. Primero, el artículo estudia la transformación de las normas sociales que legitiman el uso de la violencia política en la ultraderecha como un medio (y un fin) legítimo desde una perspectiva macro, meso y micro, así como los distintos grados de radicalización violenta. A continuación, se repasa la violencia política en la ultraderecha contemporánea, poniendo el foco en la protesta violenta. El tercer apartado analiza comparativamente dos casos que, aun presentando diferencias entre sí, se caracterizan por las mayores tasas de violencia política ultraderechista en Europa: Grecia y el Reino Unido. Todo ello da cuenta de la transformación de las bases sociales de la derecha radical hegemónica hacia posiciones más extremas y cercanas al fascismo clásico en cuanto a ideario, métodos y objetivos.

2025, Revista de Políticas Públicas

El artículo aborda el ciclo de megaeventos a partir de la incorporación de elementos semánticos y operacionales de la estrategia militar de Guerra Irregular, a través de la intervención de las Fuerzas Armadas brasileñas en Rio de Janeiro y para la implantación de las Unidades de Policía Pacificadora (UPP). Teniendo como respaldo el uso de fuentes primarias del Departamento de Defensa (DOD) y el Estado Mayor Conjunto de Estados Unidos se caracteriza la Guerra Irregular. En un segundo momento y a partir de artículos de militares que participaron en Operaciones de guerra urbana aparecidos en la revista del Ejército de Estados Unidos Military Review, se corrobora la hipótesis sobre el empleo de estrategias de guerra en contextos urbanos como alternativa disponible para las élites políticas y económicas con objetivos de control social.

2024, JEP JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND POLİTICAL SCIENCES

The concept of war, used to express interstate conflicts in the traditional sense, states to situations that occur much beyond this meaning at the present time.
This phenomenon has changed over time owing to the conflictual nature of
international relations. The end of the Cold War and globalization are very
effective parameters in this evolution. Since the Cold War period, the
phenomenon of war has shown itself in the definition such as actors, tactics,
strategies and modes of conduct of war, showing a more serious change than was known in previous periods. One of the current types of the evolving concept of war is proxy wars. This type of war has emerged as a result of powerful states intervening in the regions they want through the terrorist organizations they have chosen as their proxies. In this study, the transformation of the concept of war was first evaluated on the basis of old and new wars. Later, the PKK, which is one of the organizations used as a proxy actor in proxy wars, and its other extensions were examined.

2024

The presence of the so-called Islamic State in the Philippines continues to be a significant threat in this region. After Marawi, IS fighters have been reported as still active in the southern part of the country. Jolo and Maguindanao are likely to be the next IS stronghold. Commentary ON 22 MARCH 2018, exactly five months after the Philippine government liberated Marawi, An-Naba, the self-proclaimed Islamic State's (IS) mouthpiece, reported a clash between Abu Sayyaf (ASG) fighters and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the island of Jolo. The constant update from IS Central through its publications, such as An-Naba, about incidents happening in the Philippines could suggest the trajectory of the group's activities in the country. The latest are in Jolo and Maguindanao.

2024

While the battle for Marawi may have ended, many developments suggest that the danger of violent extremism and terrorism is far from over. Post-Marawi Philippines is seeing the re-emergence of IS-affiliated groups, raising the possibility of another Marawi-type threat in the near future. Commentary SINCE THE recapture of Marawi City by government forces in October 2017, militants affiliated with the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) have been pushed back into a strategic retreat. On 24 January 2018, Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the Joint Task Force Marawi, stressed that even though hundreds of militants were killed in the battle, there are still IS-affiliated supporters and sympathisers who continue to pursue the goal of establishing an IS-styled regime in Southeast Asia. On 20 January 2018, members of the IS-affiliated Maute Group disembarked on the southwest of Lake Lanao, less than 40 kilometres from Marawi City, the capital of Lanao del Sur. They attacked troops from the Joint Task Force Ranao, injuring six before escaping by boat. The attack was the first clash since the Marawi battle and may foreshadow more trouble in the Philippines. More to Come? Videos of the Marawi attacks continue to be circulated online and the Maute brothers have been glorified as heroes by Filipino IS supporters. Up till their current strategic retreat, IS-affiliated militants continued to claim victory. In real terms, the Maute Group and their allies failed to capture Marawi and convert it into an outpost of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's so-called caliphate.

2024

The recent recapture of Marawi City by Philippine security forces which led to the death of Isnilon Hapilon has thrown up a new emir or leader, Amin Baco. A Malaysian from Sabah, who is Amin Baco? Commentary IT WAS not whether but when ISIS, also known as Islamic State (IS), would appoint the successor to Isnilon Hapilon, following the death of the Emir of ISIS Philippines on 20 October 2017 in Marawi City. There were conflicting reports as to who had been appointed as the new point man of the jihadi organisation. But by early November 2017, it became clear that Amin Baco, a Malaysian, has been designated as the new leader of Southeast Asia's most embattled jihadi outfit, at the core of which is the Abu Sayyaf Group in southern Philippines.

2024

Yeni çağın başlamasıyla birlikte devletlere dair birçok kavramın tanımı değişirken, güç kavramı da evrim geçirecektir. Geçmişte bir ülkenin gücünün büyük bir kısmı askeri güçten kaynaklanırken, artık yönetimsel güç, devletlerin gücünün önemli bir parçası haline gelecektir. Aslında yönetimsel güç her zaman önemliydi; ancak askeri güç, caydırıcılığı ve açık bir meydan okuma yeteneği nedeniyle her zaman ön planda olmuştur. Devletlerin varlığını sürdürebilmesi, esasen yönetimsel tercihlerle belirlenir. Ancak bu durum somut bir gösterge sunmadığı için genellikle göz ardı edilir.

2024, Leiden Journal of International Law

This article advocates a turn to the visual in legal scholarship. The phenomenon used to elucidate this methodological proposition is the figure of the ‘human shields’ under international humanitarian law. I challenges the ways in which the ‘human shields’ notion continues to be debated in mainstream legal scholarship and discourse in terms of doctrinal interpretation, examination of evidence, or analyses of ‘asymmetricity’ and ‘urbanisation’ as ‘challenges’ in ‘contemporary’ war. Before any such inquiries, I argue, it is crucial to pay attention to the visual and the lived history of the peoples of the Global South.

2024, Radical Philosophy 216

This article critically explores the nexus between Israeli military operations and the aesthetics of power, particularly to Israeli identity. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s analysis of fascism and aesthetics, I trace how Israeli military actions—ranging from the spectacle of victory in past wars to more recent brutalities—have shaped both Israeli identity . The article delves into the ways in which Israeli military performances function not only as tactical operations but as a form of symbolic domination, constructing a mythos of invincibility and fear. However, it also highlights how the shift from awe-inspiring military prowess to a grotesque celebration of unchecked violence in Gaza signals a troubling new phase in Israel’s approach, where the aim is no longer simply to subdue, but to shock Palestinians. The piece underscores the broader implications of this transformation, suggesting that the aesthetics of military power have reached a tipping point, moving from heroics to horror, and from awe to pure terror. This new phase of conflict challenges long-standing notions of Israeli-ness.

2024

Fallujah 2004 Fallujah 2004 2 "An awesome piece of ordnance" "It would be a strategic mistake for the It would be a strategic mistake for the United States to fail to have a forwardlooking, aggressive R&D program in looking, aggressive R&D program in energetics. Furthermore it is inconceivable that the United States should be anything but at the cutting edge of "energetics"...it is fundamental for achieving battle space d i " dominance".

2024, Urban Operations: War, Crime, and Conflict

This edited collection contains detailed case studies of recent urban conflicts, providing a clear understanding of the unique challenges and strategies involved in urban operations. Conflict ranging from high intensity crime to large-scale combat is addressed. Contains chapters on civil affairs, urban disaster, swarming, virtual urban siege, urban warfare, irregular unban combat, artificial intelligence (AI) in urban operations, surveillance, wargaming, subterranean operations, urban littoral operations, and civilian protection. The text also includes a preface by Jayson Geroux and John Spencer, as well as a postscript on future urban operations by David Kilcullen.

2024, PhD Dissertation

This research seeks to study the post-conflict urban transformation projects in the historical centre (Suriçi) of Diyarbakır/Amed, the biggest Kurdish city in Turkey. The armed conflict between the Turkish Army and the Kurdish movement erupted in 2015 in seven cities in South-eastern Turkey and ended a year later in 2016. In these cities, significant parts of the conflict areas were urgently expropriated and demolished while remaining restricted by police and the army for a long time. An array of urban policies and development projects were initiated and implemented, aiming to redesign and reconstruct the city for the economic and social benefit of the Turkish state but also to limit and oppress the Kurdish movement. This research examines how urban planning policies become tools of power and sovereignty in the urban space in addition to spatial strategies of dislocation and dispossession introduced by warfare, focusing on Suriçi, Diyarbakır’s old centre. Surrounded by a Roman fortress and enlisted as a cultural heritage monument by UNESCO, Suriçi comprises of historical buildings that have been severely damaged or demolished and were replaced by new constructions. The case study area was populated in the last decades by Kurdish lower classes and consists of 15 neighbourhoods. Since the end of the armed conflict in 2016, the urban fabric has been violently eradicated in almost half of the Suriçi area and shaped anew. The widened avenues and new building blocks built on top of the old narrow alleys and neighbourhoods are dedicated to commercial land uses, thus transforming the area into a tourist park. The urban transformation projects in Suriçi have displaced the previous residents and deprived them of their houses and properties by turning the area into a profitable field for private and public investments. As will be analysed in the following chapters, the conflict sparked in late 2015 in seven big cities in Southeastern Turkey. Unlike some other war-torn cities like Nusaybin and Şırnak, this case study involves a historical monument and thus the potential of extracting value from the area that was demolished and later developed. The case study of Sur is a very different one, and the corresponding outcomes of this thesis should not be generalised; however, they should be examined and processed thoroughly in order to (possibly) identify common patterns with similar cases where the tool of urban reconstruction is used as a very powerful and deeply political instrument to shape the social structure of the city anew. The research includes a fieldwork study that took place in Diyarbakır (in 2019 and 2022). The methods employed during the fieldwork include interviews (thirty in-depth semi-structured interviews), personal observations and informal discussions, as well as collection of data like policy reports and maps. In addition, the methodology also employs spatial analysis methods such as analysis of spatial registry and (aerial and in-field) photo observation supported, on-site architectural observations, as well as analysis of policies and legal documents (master plans, regulations, declarations of party representatives, parliamentary minutes, supplementary reports and literature). This thesis aimed, through a deeper examination, the transformation projects in Suriçi affected in multiple ways the collective memory, the social, political, economic, cultural, and historical life. While financial gains and imposing control appear to be the primary two aims of the transformation project, the discursive and visual representation of the ‘rebranded’ Sur and the planned projects with their security and assimilative objectives illustrate a desire and anxiety for pacification. The undisclosed master plan for the re/de-constructed area leaves the long-term future development uncertain and creates grey zones of informal negotiations and political leverage. The new Sur is being transformed into a tourist park through violent demographic shifts. The deregulated legal framework has escalated prices, resulting in permanent displacement. The project reflects a case where catastrophe presents financial opportunities for the upper classes and reveals the complex interplay of class divisions, Kurdish identity, colonialism and spatial hegemony.

2024

Bu çalışma, bölgesel güçlerin asimetrik savaş taktikleri ve hibrit savaş stratejilerinin uluslararası güvenlik üzerindeki etkilerini incelemektedir. Araştırmanın amacı, bu stratejilerin günümüzde nasıl uygulandığını ve uluslararası ilişkilerde nasıl bir değişim yarattığını analiz etmektir. Çalışma, mevcut literatürden farklı olarak, hibrit savaş stratejilerinin özellikle bölgesel güçler tarafından kullanılması üzerinde durmaktadır. Kısıtlar arasında, sınırlı veri erişimi ve konunun dinamik doğası yer almaktadır. Bulgular, bu stratejilerin uluslararası güvenlikteki belirsizlikleri artırdığını ve geleneksel askeri yöntemlerin ötesine geçen etkiler yarattığını göstermektedir.

2024, מערכות

הצורך לשחוק מערכים גדולים של האויב מחייב פעולה בסדר כוחות גדול, למשך זמן ממושך. מערכה סדורה של פשיטות חוזרות ונשנות, בכוחות גדולים, עשויה להקנות לנו חלק מהיתרונות המבצעיים והמורליים הגלומים בפעולה קרקעית רחבת היקף, בלי לשלם מחירים מדיניים... more

2024, International Journal of Middle East Studies

What is ethnography in times of war? How does war shape the conditions and possibilities of ethnographic research? How do the exigencies of daily life in a war zone ultimately prescribe and restrict what kinds of research can be done? In the following essay, I reflect on my experiences conducting ethnographic fieldwork in southeastern Turkey in unexpected wartime conditions. During the two years that I spent in the field, a series of local and national crises disrupted a fragile peace that had lasted for the previous few years. Confronted with disaster after disaster, I was continually compelled to reevaluate my project—interrogating my research questions, changing my research methods, and assessing whether I would be able to continue my research at all. The war defined my time in the field and dictated the possibilities and limitations of the work that I was able to do. While I had planned to examine earlier histories of violence, ultimately the contemporaneous war and its effects on daily life, the politics of memory, and the landscape became a central focus of my fieldwork.

2024

El aumento del extremismo de la derecha radical es un fenómeno que ha cobrado relevancia en diversos contextos a nivel mundial, incluyendo Chile. Múltiples razones explican este crecimiento y es crucial analizarlas desde una perspectiva... more

2024, InTech eBooks

Lightweight protective structures and materials such as the personal protective equipment (PPE) for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel are frequently under investigation globally. Their mechanical response to impulsive loads such as blast and ballistic impacts is critical for establishing the spectrum of their performance against various types of threats. This chapter presents a novel testing technique that incorporates three near-simultaneous impacts in one shot in order to acquire deeper understanding of the dynamic interactions that take place during an explosion. A numerical model of an aramid fabric is developed to examine the parameters that influence the ballistic performance under multiple impacts. Fragment cluster impacts with dense dispersion have increased probability to perforate the target material. Heterogeneous, non-isotropic materials, like most of the ballistic grade protective materials, distribute the energy of the impacts in the form of stress wave streams causing the material to behave differently depending on the formation of the impacting fragments. Experimental work with aramid fabrics against single and triple impacts with the fragmentsimulating projectile (FSP, 1.102 g) indicates that the ballistic limit in triple impacts is considerably lower that the ballistic limit in single impacts. The actual ballistic performance against multiple fragment impacts is severely underestimated with the classical single-impact methodologies.

2024, Amsterdam Law Forum

This article examines the law governing siege warfare and its application to sieges enforced by parties to the Syrian conflict. In doing so, the article considers the classification of the conflict and questions whether the conflict has crystallized into an international armed conflict. It critically applies the laws of armed conflict to the ongoing sieges and examines the obligations of parties to the conflict in relation to humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians in sieged areas. In the event that humanitarian assistance is denied, this article explores the criminalization of the resulting starvation of civilians as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. There is compelling evidence to conclude that the war crime of starvation and the crime against humanity of extermination have been committed during siege warfare. These crimes ideally should be prosecuted by international judges through the establishment of an ad hoc international criminal tribunal or immediately through universal jurisdiction.

2024, Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies

This article seeks to analyse the intersection between grey zone strategies and how urban environments are vulnerable to these strategies by analysing the characteristics and, primarily, the processes that affect conflict and unconventional tactics and urban environments. In this process, the city is redefined as an agent of transformation with its own entity and dynamics, with the emphasis on global cities. The importance of public opinion in our society as a fundamental objective of these non-conventional strategies is also studied, pointing out the specific vulnerabilities they present due to the challenges they pose, from the structuring of the territory to social cohesion. Finally, the aim is to provide possible answers and to highlight shortcomings in this area. Four actors are identified as having a leading role: the armed forces, the private sector, public institutions and citizens.

2024, Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos

Este artículo trata de analizar la intersección entre las estrategias de
zona gris y las vulnerabilidades de los entornos urbano frente a estas
estrategias. Para ello se analizan las características y, principalmente,
los procesos que afectan al conflicto y a las tácticas no convencionales
y a los entornos urbanos. En ese proceso se redefine la ciudad como un
agente de transformación con entidad y dinámicas propias, poniendo
el acento en las ciudades globales. Se estudia también la importancia
de la opinión pública en nuestra sociedad como objetivo fundamental
de estas estrategias no convencionales, señalando las vulnerabilidades
específicas que presentan debido a los desafíos que presentan desde
la vertebración del territorio a la cohesión social. Por último, se trata
de dar posibles respuestas y evidenciar carencias en esta materia. Se
señalan a ese respecto cuatro actores que tienen un papel protagonista:

2024, ICRC

We would also like to express our gratitude to all our colleagues at the ICRC who generously shared their expertise and experiences with us during both the interviews and the extensive process of drafting and revising the report. The report would not have been possible without the support of our colleagues in various ICRC units and delegations, working in Protection, Thematics, Health, Legal, Policy, Water and Habitat, Weapons Contamination and Armed Forces teams. We are immensely grateful to all the people from different organizations whom we interviewed, for placing their trust in us and for sharing their experiences, expertise and perspectives. Radhika Banerjee illustrated the report. when explosive weapons destroy water and sanitation infrastructure, outbreaks of infectious disease can follow soon afterwards, in a matter of days. By disrupting access to essential services, some military tacticssiege and encirclement, for instance-also increase the likelihood of stunting, starvation or death for children. Protracted conflict in cities reduces the likelihood of children being immunized on time, if at all. Urban warfare has a profound impact on the mental health and well-being of children. 'Toxic' stress caused by witnessing or experiencing violence can rewire the architecture of children's developing brains, with adverse and lifelong consequences for their health and well-being. Children exposed to urban warfare report insomnia, chronic stress, anxiety, panic attacks, grief, bedwetting, fear of loud sounds and nightmares. Urban warfare can cause disabilities and create specific risks for children with existing disabilities. A blast injury that causes a physical impairment can limit a child's educational possibilities and expose them to stigmatization and discrimination, particularly when prosthetics and rehabilitation are unavailable. Children with existing (pre-conflict) disabilities may be left behind-for instance, in institutions-during evacuations. Those with sensory disabilities may be unable to see or hear risks to their safety or protective messages. Children with disabilities are also at greater risk of malnutrition and less likely to be included in educational programmes. Urban warfare denies or disrupts children's education in numerous ways. The roads and paths that children take to school become unsafe when they are contaminated by landmines and ERW. Parents may keep children at home to minimize their risk of exposure to harm. Schools may be attacked, incidentally damaged, or used for military purposes. 3 Even when schools stay open, school supplies may be scarce and teachers may have been displaced during urban hostilities. Children may also be too traumatized to attend to their studies. Family separation can occur quickly during urban warfare. Children can be left behind or lost during evacuations, displacement or the confusion of sheltering from attack. Shifting front lines and checkpoints may separate families; loss of family contact can also occur when an adult or child is wounded, hospitalized, detained, recruited or killed. Unaccompanied and separated children are at increased risk of abuse, exploitation and violence, including sexual violence, and may resort to harmful coping mechanisms and survival strategies. The disappearance of a family member may have a strong impact on children, as it changes family dynamics; they might also experience the psychological consequences of 'ambiguous loss'. 4 Children detained during urban warfare are exposed to physical and mental harm, because they cannot protect themselves and also because they do not know what has become of their loved ones. Urban warfare may disrupt supply chains for provision of essential services at a place of detention, causing water and food shortages that lead to malnutrition or loss of access to health services: this can have rapid and direct consequences, particularly for children's health, well-being and development. During urban warfare, mechanisms for transferring children captured by armed actors to appropriate civilian actors-usually in effect during hostilities-may not be established or implemented. Children require specific consideration in relation to detention. Children are recruited by armed forces and armed groups. Urban warfare places children in proximity to weapon bearers, who recruit them through various "push" and "pull" factors. Financial desperation, ideology, duty and cultural factors related to gender or the transition to adulthood can all contribute to supposedly voluntary recruitment; recruitment can also be forced. Once a child becomes associated with armed forces or an armed group, it is often difficult for him or her to leave during urban warfare: humanitarian and/or demobilization programmes are unlikely to be in place. Economic downturns caused by urban warfare can cause children and their families to adopt harmful survival strategies. Financial desperation can lead to children dropping out of school, marrying early or to their joining armed forces or a non-state armed group to provide financial support for their families. Some families may feel that they have no choice but to rely on their children-particularly when children are thought to enjoy certain advantages, such as being able to evade checkpoints or pick their way through rubble, or being less likely targets than adults for snipers. Despite the grave risks that urban warfare poses for children, data collection and analysis, and generation of evidence, remain a challenge, inhibiting holistic approaches to prevention of harm and responses to their needs.

2024, Journal of Karary University for Engineering and Science

The air force is the most important weapon during wars and battles. Through it, armies can control and isolate enemy territory, carry out their own operations and missions, allow for the increased bombing, tactical air support for ground forces, parachuting, airdrops, and the passage of cargo planes. Countries are working to enhance their air force by increasing the number of their aircraft and providing them with the latest modern technologies in monitoring targets, accurate and efficient missiles. This paper will present a completely new design of 80 mm controlled fragmentation warhead for air to surface missile has been designed and tested, the results of the experiment showed a good performance for tactical characteristics such as lethal range which is about 19 meters.

2024, International Journal of Intelligent Defence Support Systems

Weapon effect modelling has many applications, but in this paper we focus on how advanced computer models can be used to assess the effectiveness of blast shielding structures and materials, for example to improve the safety of weapons production. Safety laws are changing from prescriptive, solution-based regulations to a risk-management-based approach, so being able to estimate the performance of protective measures allows us to produce directly-relevant safety evidence. Such an approach can be used to show that risks are reduced so far as is reasonably practicable (SFAIRP) in order to demonstrate compliance with the WHS Act, 2011. This paper first describes how a variety of computer-based models for the prediction of the development and propagation of blast pressures can be used to provide a detailed assessment of the risks associated with explosions in complex environments, with particular reference to injury assessment-something that is sometimes impractical with simpler techniques. We then show how some of these techniques have been used in two real-world examples to successfully support safety case development. Finally, we extrapolate from the examples, showing how these techniques could be applied to assess weapons safety in different environments, or for risk assessment in defensive or offensive scenarios.

2024, The Journal of Architecture

Contemporary warfare is urban warfare. Conflicts across the world target sites of urbanitypublic spaces, cafes, and schools-and the infrastructure that makes urban life possible, basic urban services, such as electricity, water and roads.

2024

THE ARMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has managed to recapture most of Marawi back from the Maute Group and its acolytes despite the military’s lack of familiarity with urban warfare and the terrain. Westmincom has made “great advances” addressing the “complicated” issues on the ground even though it missed the deadline for retaking Marawi fully or wiping out terrorism from Mindanao by June 2017.

2024, Journal of Karary University for Engineering and Science

2024

Puesto que la discusión política en nuestro país es entendida usualmente en términos de “izquierda” y “derecha”, clasificación que se considera insuficiente para el análisis político, se añade el eje “autoritarismo-liberalismo” para obtener como resultado un instrumento que permita mayor riqueza en el análisis para determinar la relación que desempeñan opiniones o factores emocionales o actitudinales con las posturas políticas de los entrevistados. Lejos de un derrotero unívoco como el que vaticinaba Francis Fukuyama en su ensayo “El Fin de la Historia”, la geopolítica mundial exhuma pasiones y contagia latitudes sin que nuestro país sea la excepción, proceso que quizás comenzó con un referéndum hace casi una década. La investigación parte de la premisa de que la decisión política no es un acto tan racional como suele ser manejado, y que es por el contrario la ideología política la que marca el curso geopolítico contemporáneo a través de determinantes psicosociales subyacentes; la Orientación hacia la Dominancia Social, la Atribución de la Pobreza, la Percepción personal sobre la Naturaleza Humana y el Credo Religioso (o no) de los encuestados. De esta manera, se obtienen correlaciones entre la derecha económica y la religiosidad, y entre el autoritarismo y a) la dominancia social, b) las calificaciones positivas acerca de la naturaleza humana, c) la derecha económica y d) con los niveles de religiosidad subjetiva. De igual manera se obtienen diferencias significativas mediante análisis de Prueba T entre las personas religiosas y no religiosas en cuanto a lo político, en el tanto las religiosas se inclinan en mayor medida hacia el autoritarismo y la derecha económica. Por último, se discuten algunas de las relaciones encontradas, analizando la investigación en tres apartados: social, político y económico. Se conjetura con resultados estadísticos de por medio, respecto al hecho de que la calificación de la naturaleza humana es un asunto no de religión, sino de religiosidad, así como respecto a las razones que podrían existir para que las personas con autoritarismo social elevado puntúen también alto en dominancia social, y respecto al porqué de la inclinación hacia la izquierda de las posturas no religiosas.

2024, The New Jewish Canon

This brief essay contextualizes Moshe Halbertal's rebuttal of the Goldstone Report (accusing the IDF of war crimes in the 2008-2009 Gaza War) in context of an ongoing Israeli debate about the risks that IDF soldiers should take to protect... more

2024, ISSN 2320-9186

The current international human law framework does not define what the term military siege is. This is despite its consistent and regular use in modern warfare and its resistant repercussions. There is an increased interest among scholars to focus on siege warfare. Despite this increasing interest and relevance of the concept in several settings in contemporary military operations, the fundamental constructs have not been properly defined and operationalized. It was therefore critical that a study is conducted to critically analyze the concept and its objectives; the conduct; and challenges. The analysis was key in crafting a definition of the concept 'siege warfare' and providing possible recommendations regarding its conduct. One challenge however is that modern law still tolerates deliberate infliction of extreme deprivation especially in non-international armed conflict. Besieging forces are also free to reject passages of humanitarian relief without explanation. The study recommended as follows: As a matter of urgency, IHL be improved to include deliberate non-deprivation of foods to civilian in non-international armed conflict and combatants in both international and non-international armed conflict as a war crime under IHL. Given the role of Humanitarian organizations in alleviating human suffering during hostilities, the International Law should include a clause on the non-interference with humanitarian assistance efforts by parties to a conflict both in international and non-international armed conflicts and harsh penalties on indiscriminate attacks in populated areas, among others. A definition for the construct 'military siege' was also provided.

2024

Scholars have held a longstanding fascination with the complex and intricate urban structure found within Islamic cities. Over the years, they have used various terms and designations, such as labyrinthine, maze-like, spontaneous,... more

2024, Defence Science Journal

To prevent the initiation failure caused by the uncontrolled fuze and improve the weapon reliability in the high-speed double-event fuel-air explosive (DEFAE) application, it is necessary to study the TDF motion trajectory and set up a twice-detonating fuze (TDF) design system. Hence, a novel approach of realising the fixed single-point center initiation by TDF within the fuel air cloud is proposed. Accordingly, a computational model for the TDF motion state with the nonlinear mechanics analysis is built due to the expensive and difficult full-scale experiment. Moreover, the TDF guidance design system is programmed using MATLAB with the equations of mechanical equilibrium. In addition, by this system, influences of various input parameters on the TDF motion trajectory are studied in detail singly. Conclusively, the result of a certain TDF example indicates that this paper provides an economical idea for the TDF design, and the developed graphical user interface of high-efficiency for the weapon designers to facilitate the high-speed DEFAE missile development.

2024, Defence Science Journal

2024, Journal of Aviation

In this study, the feasibility of a new launcher concept that provides range extension for outdated ballistic munitions by speeding up them before their ignition is examined in detail. To analyze the efficiency of the new concept, multi-variable and single-variable optimization processes are conducted using the Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm Method in the ModeFrontier environment. Launch angle, ejection velocity of the munition from the launcher, and ignition delay of the rocket motor after the ejection process are determined as design variables. An in-house MATLAB script is prepared and validated to perform numerical solutions of the munition’s two-dimensional trajectory. As a result of the optimization processes, graphical results are prepared to examine the effects of each design variable on munition’s range and to make a comparison between the flight trajectories of the munitions which are launched from classical and accelerator launchers. It is concluded that usage of the ac...

2023, Proceedings 2023

The general trend of urbanization at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century coincides with an increase in armed conflicts between military formations in urban areas. Weaker armed forces tend to draw stronger armed forces into the closed environment of urban areas to mitigate the effects of their weaknesses in human and material resources. Stronger armed forces express their desire to bypass and avoid the development of armed conflicts in urban areas. On the other hand, when the operational situation requires an armed conflict to develop inside urban areas, the stronger armed forces show a tendency to disproportionately use all their material and human superiority causing damage or destruction of facilities and infrastructure systems of urban areas, and this leads to the suffering of the civilian population. The characteristics of urban areas influence contemporary armed conflicts to manifest themselves differently compared to areas like forests, flat lands, mountains, and others. By applying the method of analysis of the content of the document, it was established that the basic characteristics of urban areas: built objects for housing and business, communal infrastructure, and the presence of permanent residents, have an impact on the basic characteristics of armed conflicts: multidimensionality, precision, non-linearity in time and space of execution, distributed content, simultaneity in action, integration of forces, interoperability and the need to respect international humanitarian law in the use of military force.

2023, 11 U.Chi. J. Intl L. 425

This article is part of a three-part series addressing the question whether the law of armed conflict, also called international humanitarianlaw (HL), privileges a form of guerrilla warfare by nonstate actors that is often conducted in violation of these laws and in the process
endangers civilians, in pursuit of a strategy of inviting a response from their opponents that helps them enlist additional recruits and international support. The strategy, rational from the
standpoint of the guerrilla forces, derogates significanty from the law's overall objective of minimiizing harm to civilian populations. The articles in this series approach this question o fa ymmetry by considering whether IHL in fact need or should be interpreted to cease privileging the guerrilla strategy.
Most discussions of the laws of war focus on the limitations placed on attackers to avoid risks to civilians. The purpose of this article is to look at the issue from the standpoint of the duties of defenders to avoid such risks. Dangers to civilians during armed conflict are a joint
product of both attackers and defenders, and minimization of such harm-presumably the overriding mission of IHL- requires establishing the right incentives for both attackers and defenders.

2023