The shelling continued until the sun went down.

In fact, most of the time it was the rebel artillery that was in charge, and the 16 M109A6s under the command of Shamkh only occasionally returned fire.

There is not enough ammunition, only silence.

In any case, the goal of containing the rebels has been achieved.

In the afternoon, the rebels were also in a hurry, using the M270 to rain a "rain of steel", but it only shocked the civilians and defenders.

Presumably, it was found that rocket artillery was not suitable for counter-battery missions, and the rebels did not waste expensive rockets.

According to Wang Haotian's battle report, at least dozens of self-propelled howitzers of the rebels were damaged.

Actually, there is definitely moisture in this number.

The point is that the M109A6 uses high-explosive shells, and unless it directly hits the rebels' self-propelled howitzers, it is difficult to destroy the howitzers with shrapnel.

Let's not forget that the M109A6 has a certain amount of protection, which is enough to cope with shrapnel from artillery shells.

In fact, none of the 16 M109A6s commanded by Shamkh were damaged by flying shrapnel because of the rebels' shelling.

Obviously, the probability of a direct hit on enemy artillery is extremely low, separated by tens of kilometers.

The rebels must have had a lot of self-propelled howitzers damaged, but most of them were minor and could be repaired quickly, maybe tomorrow they will be able to use them normally.

As night fell, Wang Dong ordered a ceasefire.

By this time, the shells were almost gone.

According to Shamkh's report, 16 M109A6s can continue to fight, but there are few shells left, and each gun can be divided into about 10.

Fortunately, Yunlong has already sent news that two C-155 with 17mm ammunition have arrived in Basra.

If all goes well, at dawn tomorrow, 100 tons of ammunition will arrive in Nasiriyah with the last group of operatives led by Luo Qing.

In fact, not long after dinner, Luo Qing arrived in advance with a small team of operatives.

On the west side of Nasiriyah, the main force of the rebels, that is, six brigades, had arrived.

As expected, the rebels will attack around dawn.

To this end, Wang Dong convened key personnel and held a pre-war meeting.

Yunlong provided the latest information, mainly that an armored unit of the rebels had begun to make a detour to the south, and it was likely that it would adopt a roundabout outflanking tactic as in the attack on Semavo.

It's just that this armored unit is not moving fast.

As for the reason, Yunlong also explained, that is, the air threat.

The rebels were able to successfully complete the pre-attack preparations in the west of Nasiriyah, but it was actually the prevention and control cover provided by FD2000 that allowed Saudi fighters to withdraw from the battlefield.

It's just that the FD2000 has a maximum interception range of 100 km against fighters.

For security reasons, the deployment site of FD2000 must be at least 30 kilometers away from the forward position, that is, outside the range of the M109A6, the east-west span of the Nasiriyah city is about 20 kilometers, so it can be calculated that the cover range that FD2000 can provide can only extend about 30 kilometers to the east of the Nasiriyah city.

In addition, the maximum delivery range of guided bombs such as JDAM is more than 20 kilometers.

Obviously, the rebels' roundabout range could extend at most a few kilometres east of Nasiriyah.

Beyond this range, the roundabout troops will be bombed.

Based on this, Yunlong concluded that the rebels would not adopt the roundabout tactic of attacking Semavo, and sent the armored troops south to take a roundabout outflanking posture, in fact, to divide the defenders.

Because the strength of the defenders was not enough in the first place, it was even more impossible to hold the frontal line of defense after a part of it was divided.

It can be seen that the rebels will inevitably storm Nasiriyah, and they can only attack it.

Now, the problem is obvious.

How can you withstand the onslaught of the rebels?

Obviously, the strength of the army is a big problem.

Even if the rebel detour forces were not taken seriously, they had to expand their defenses to the south, at least to the southwest.

This is equivalent to more than doubling the width of the frontal line of defense!

Doubling the length of the defensive line means halving the density of troops, and the problem of insufficient forces becomes even more pronounced.

There is only one solution, to make up for it with firepower.

The problem is that there is certainly nothing to count on in the firepower of the defenders, and even if there is enough ammunition, the 16-door M109A6 will not hold up the scene.

You know, the rebels have hundreds of heavy artillery, as well as dozens of rocket artillery.

In low-intensity artillery battles, hit-and-run tactics can also be used to contain the rebels' artillery, which will not work at all in high-intensity battles.

Obviously, air support is crucial.

In this regard, Yunlong also gave a clear answer.

The Royal Saudi Air Force's inventory of stand-off munitions, mainly the "Taurus" cruise missiles, is about to run out, and can provide air support at most once.

In other words, if the threat posed by the FD2000 cannot be eliminated, don't expect more air support.

In other words, if the FD2000 air defense system can be destroyed, the Royal Saudi Air Force will go all out to provide support for Wang Dong and them.

So, how can you get rid of that FD2000?

In fact, the Royal Saudi Air Force has already taken action, but the result is very bad.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Royal Saudi Air Force dispatched eight F-15SAs to launch a hunt mission against the FD2000 air defense system.

As a result, before the four F-15SA launched the "Hamm" anti-radiation missiles they carried, two fighters on a decoy mission were attacked, one of which exploded in the air by an anti-aircraft missile, and the other was damaged, crashing shortly after flying across the border.

Because they were locked by air defense radars, the 4 F-15SAs that carried out the attack mission had to be abandoned.

This result is actually quite normal.

The FD2000's search radar is capable of detecting fighters at a distance of several hundred kilometers and attacking fighters at a distance of 100 kilometers, while the range of the "Hamm" anti-radiation missile is less than 80 kilometers.

In addition, the FD2000's radar has a frequency conversion function, which can effectively respond to anti-radiation missile attacks.

This failure made the Royal Saudi Air Force give up the idea of destroying the FD2000.

It's not that the FD2000 is advanced, but the Royal Saudi Air Force lacks electronic attack aircraft, and even more so lacks combat experience in combating advanced air defense systems.

In the words of Yunlong, the Royal Saudi Air Force applied modern fighters with primitive tactics.

The implication is that with the capabilities of the Royal Saudi Air Force, especially tactical thinking, even a fifth-generation stealth fighter such as the F-35A may not be able to suppress the rebels' air defense systems.

No matter how rich Saudi Arabia is, it can't buy advanced tactical ideas.

It takes enough time to solve this problem.

According to Yunlong, it will be until Pakistan's military aid arrives at the earliest that there is any hope of destroying the rebels' air defense systems through air strikes.

That must have been a month later, though.

As for now, Wang Dong can only figure out his own way.