How ISIS Fights : Military Tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt

## Explores the military endurance of ISIS in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt * Based on extensive fieldwork in the Middle East, dozens of interviews with soldiers and fighters who engaged ISIS and their predecessors between 2013 and 2020, and hundreds of ISIS publications, battle-relevant videos and ISIS commanders’ audio-releases * Focuses on a core set of ISIS urban and suburban battles in Fallujah, Mosul, Ramadi, Raqqa (City and Governorate), Derna, Sirte and Northeastern Sinai * Offers insights into how ISIS, like-minded organisations and other armed non-state actors may or will fight in the future How did ISIS – a widely hated, massively outnumbered and ludicrously outgunned organisation – manage to occupy over 120 cities, towns and villages from the Southern Philippines to Western Libya? Seeking to understand ISIS’s combat effectiveness, Omar Ashour analyses the military and tactical innovations of ISIS and their predecessors in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. He shows how their capacity to mix conventional military tactics with innovative guerrilla warfare and urban terrorism strategies allowed ISIS to expand and endure beyond expectations. Contents List of Tables List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Foreword 1. Is it Mainly Tactics? 2. Implodes but Expands: How the ‘Islamic State’ Fights in Iraq 3. Explodes and Expands: How the ‘Islamic State’ Fights in Syria 4. Reloads but Implodes: How the ‘Islamic State’ Fights in Libya 5. Lures and Endures: How ‘Sinai Province’ Fights in Egypt 6. Agency with a Tactical Edge Bibliography Index