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222 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 11 / 2018 Despite the recent popularisation of the concept of urbicide, the truth is that such destructive attacks on cities are not new. Mazzucchelli14 enumerates a series of examples of cities plundered and destroyed throughout ancient history (Carthage in the first century BC, Jerusalem in the first century AD and Milan in the twelfth century AD) and our more recent past (Guernica, Dresden, London, Warsaw and Hiroshima in the twentieth century). The warlike conflicts of recent years in Iraq (2003-2011) and Syria (2011-the present day) have shown this same urbicide logic. In fact, attacks against cities and densely populated areas have become more commonplace since World War II due to the deployment of new military strategies based on the progressive upgrading of air strike technology and the use of increasingly destructive weapons. All this has placed cities in the firing line of attacks, despite theoretical attempts such as the Geneva Convention (1977), to stem the massive destruction of urban heritage and the death of civilians. In addition to armed conflicts, most of the recent acts of terrorism in the Western world show similar patterns of behaviour, although within a context of asymmetric confrontation in which a lone wolf or minority group tries to spread terror on a large scale and make a strong media impact. Examples of this are the jihadist attacks in New York (2001), Madrid (2004), London (2005) and Brussels (2016), which all took place in different urban scenarios. Attacks against the identity values embodied in the city acquire their maximum expression when the objective of the attacks is the obliteration of the urban landscape and the annihilation of its past (memoricide). Álvarez15, advised by a group of experts, analysed the strategies and military objectives of destruction of the five worst-hit cities since the end of the twentieth century. The city of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), considered the most paradigmatic example of urbicide and memoricide experienced during the Balkan War (1991-2001), was one of them. Among the many symbolic buildings destroyed were the National Museum, the City Hall, the mosques of Ferhadija and Ali Pasha, the Clock Tower and the Brusa Market. However, the Serbian attack on the National Library (1992), in which more than 1.5 million volumes were lost, was the most important attack on the collective memory in Europe since the end of World War II. On the other hand, the continuous siege of the city of Homs (Syria) in recent years has led to the enclosure, isolation and programmed destruction of a large part of its districts by the Army of Bashar al-Assad. The strategy in Grozny (Chechnya) followed by Russia (1994-1996 and 1999-2009) was the devastation of the city16 in order to diminish the enemy and discourage resistance. The Palestinian territories, mainly those located in the Gaza Strip, were destroyed and rapidly replaced with 14  Ibid. 15  ALVAREZ, Cristina. «Las 5 ciudades con más urbicidio», Esglobal, 09 April, 2012, https://www. esglobal.org/las-5-ciudades-con-mas-urbicidio (Date accessed: 15 March, 2017). 16  COWARD, Martin. «Urbicide. The Politics of Urban Destruction». Routledge: London (United Kingdom) and New York (USA), 2009, pp. 176. http://revista.ieee.es

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