Russia to teach Syrian 'urban-warfare' lessons in military academies

Russia intends to teach the combat lessons learned in its bloody campaign in Syria in the curricula of its military academies, the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Friday.

 "Russia's military experience gained during the anti-terrorist campaign in Syria will be promptly introduced into the curriculum of Russian military higher schools," Shoigu said, in remarks carried by Kremlin-linked outlet Russia Today.

Moscow claims the purpose of its intervention alongside the forces of the Syrian regime is to fight extremists - such as the Islamic State group - in Syria. But most of Russia's formidable firepower has been used against Syrian rebels and civilian infrastructure in areas they hold, without discrimination between jihadi elements and other factions fighting the regime.

Shoigu was addressing a meeting of commanders of the Russian defence ministry. He said a recent training conference on "Military Education at the Service of Fatherland" was working to introduce the combat experience gained by the air force and navy "into the educational process, and also towards implementing modern instruction technologies".

The defence ministry will also incorporate the lessons learned into Russia's military school programmes running through 2020.

In late November, pro-regime Lebanese daily al-Akhbar said Russian officers had recently met in Aleppo with commanders from Hizballah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese paramilitary group also fighting alongside the Assad regime in Syria. 

The Russian officers asked Hizballah to share its plans for the assault on Aleppo and ensuing urban battle to be taught at Russian military academies, the report claimed at the time.

Russian officers asked Hizballah to share its plans for the assault on Aleppo and ensuing urban battle to be taught at Russian military academies, the report claimed at the time

It is not clear what those lessons could be, but in an increasingly urbanised world, city warfare has been a major source of challenge for military planners concerned with the goal of eliminating or minimising civilian casualties.

Western powers have been accused of showing little regard for civilian casualties - controversially termed "collateral damage" - in both conventional and drone campaigns, from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Democratically accountable and often challenged by anti-war activists, Western officials have claimed all measures are taken to reduce casualties among non-combatants during operations, including through the use of precision munitions and surgical tactics.

Russia, however, seems to be taking more shortcuts to urban warfare. It has been accused of repeating in Syria tactics learned from its bloody campaigns in Chechnya, which culminated with the near-total destruction of the region's capital Grozny.

Russia, the Syrian regime and their paramilitary allies have also been accused, of using to devastating effect so-called dumb and illegal munitions and deliberate targeting of hospitals, schools and residential districts as well as tactics involving sieges, starvation and denial of aid.

Russia's lessons learned in urban warfare could therefore include a combination of these tactics, many of which amount to war crimes; and the hybrid-warfare Moscow deployed successfully in Ukraine.