U.S. Marines get lessons in urban warfare from commander of IDF's Golani brigade
By Amos Harel
The commander of the Israel Defense Forces' Golani Brigade, Colonel Moshe Tamir, gave a lecture to the U.S. Marines this week on the lessons the IDF has learned from the current conflict with the Palestinians.
The lecture, which focused particularly on Operation Defensive Shield of April 2002, was part of a conference on urban warfare.
As the commander of Golani, Tamir has played a key role in many battles inside Palestinian cities over the last two years.
Among others, he commanded operations in the Casbahs and refugee camps of Jenin, Nablus, Tul Karm and Gaza City. Golani soldiers (under the command of a reserve infantry brigade) also participated in the battle in the Jenin refugee camp during Operation Defensive Shield that produced the heaviest Israeli casualties of the campaign.
During these two years of fighting, the IDF has developed a unique system for taking control of crowded urban areas. Among other tactics, this method includes moving from house to house by cutting through the walls in order to avoid exposed journeys down narrow alleyways. This tactic has greatly lowered the IDF's casualty rate.
The American armed forces expressed great interest in the IDF's urban warfare methods, particularly in the run-up to their war with Iraq this spring.
The IDF gave the Americans detailed information about its methods before the war, and the issue has also been extensively discussed at periodic meetings between Israeli and American officers
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