In this essay for The Atlantic, Elliot Ackerman draws on his experience as a Marine officer in the Second Battle of Fallujah to explain the brutal realities of urban combat.
Comparing Fallujah with the war in Gaza, Ackerman examines how dense cities, civilian populations, hostages, tunnels, and close-quarters fighting shape the tactics and moral stakes of modern war.
Fallujah, Gaza, and Urban Combat
Ackerman describes Military Operations in Urban Terrain, close-quarters battle, and the danger of fighting through buildings where every doorway, window, and street corner can become an ambush.
Hostages and Hell Houses
The essay compares al-Qaeda’s tactics in Fallujah with Hamas’s strategy in Gaza, arguing that both used hostages, fortified urban terrain, and civilian spaces to force costly close-range battles.
The Cost of Fighting in Cities
At its center, the piece argues that tactics reveal strategic intent, and that urban warfare often destroys the very city it is fought to control or defend.