The Fall of a Jihadist Bastion: A History of the Battle of Mosul (October 2016 – July 2017) -...

There are those who will consider the destruction of IS in Mosul and Mosul as a strategic victory in the war, but was it actually more than just a tactical victory? There was once a General name Santa Anna who achieved what he thought was a strategic victory with similar 10-1 force ratios against a group of rebel forces holding out in an old church mission. Like Mosul - a war of maneuver could have isolated it and forced a very different outcome. Sometimes a tactical victory in a last stand fight is a strategic defeat when fighting an ideology. The story line of the narrative of Mosul that will echo for generations wont be of its victors who launched an assault before they were ready and fought Manila all over again for almost a year... but of the defeated who would not surrender. On the other side - there will always be second guessing questions after the fact as to why modern warfare tactical operations were not applied to the campaign.. and to how politics saw to it the fight that was waged.