Four F-15SAs whizzed by, dropping all the bombs they carried over the rebel positions outside Kut.

It was all unguided bombs, and although the rebel anti-aircraft guns were firing all the time, they did not pose much of a threat to the low-flying fighters.

At this time of the war, the problems of Saudi Arabia and other Arab League countries were exposed at a glance.

Not to mention any advanced fighters, even with ammunition, it is difficult for many Arab League countries to continue.

Although before the outbreak of the civil war in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other countries had been buying advanced ammunition from the United States and other Western countries, and Saudi Arabia alone purchased more than 10,000 JDAM bombs from the United States, but a large part of them were used in Yemen, and there were not many guided bombs in stock.

By this time, Saudi Arabia probably had less than 100 JDAM in stock.

Without guided bombs, advanced fighters such as the F-15SA can only use unguided bombs such as the outdated MK82 against ground targets.

It can be seen that a country's military strength is not necessarily related to its degree of affluence.

Fortunately, the situation is similar for the rebels.

At this time, several Saudi MH-60 "Black Hawk" helicopters flew over.

The reconnaissance platoon led by Xie Chuyue was ready, with dozens of operatives heavily armed, as well as eight all-terrain vehicles loaded with ammunition and supplies.

According to Wang Dong's arrangement, they will go to the west of Kut and keep an eye on the road to the west.

Of course, instead of asking them to intercept the rebels coming from the west, they immediately called for artillery and air strikes as soon as they discovered the rebels.

In addition, Zhang Zilan and Tie Hu will each lead a reconnaissance platoon to the north and east of Kut.

With insufficient troops, Wang Dong could only keep an eye on the road to Kut.

Fortunately, Wang Dong has two artillery battalions equipped with PLZ-45G and AH-4, and dozens of fighter jets from the Royal Saudi Air Force are on standby.

If the rebels try to reinforce the Kut, they will have to consider artillery and air strikes first.

When the helicopter saw off Xie Chuyue and the others, the battle on the front line had already begun.

In the vanguard were the 002nd Armored Battalion, the battalion equipped with the "Khalid", and the 102nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion.

The pace of the attack was not very fast, and the two battalions spread out south of Coot, advancing steadily.

However, it is not these tanks and combat vehicles that play a key role, but drones flying high in the sky.

At this time, in the sky over Kut, there were at least 6 "Pterodactyl" 2 UAVs, two of which performed reconnaissance missions and the other four carried out strike missions.

These drones are all remotely operated by Wang Haotian in the rear.

After discovering the target, Wang Haotian will assign the target information to the combat unit according to the situation and assist the combat unit in destroying the target.

As a rule, priority is given to the use of PLZ-201G self-propelled howitzers of the 45th battalion.

Quite simply, the artillery responds faster, and the shells are cheaper.

Even against point targets, multiple howitzers need to fire at the same time, and using up dozens or even hundreds of shells is more cost-effective than bombs and missiles.

In addition, each PLZ-45G has an ammunition loading vehicle, which can automatically reload ammunition, which is more suitable for continuous combat.

Comparatively speaking, the lightweight AH-4 is more suitable for carrying out hit-and-run tactical missions due to the lack of ammunition loading vehicles and obvious lack of sustained combat capabilities.

Only when encountering a time-sensitive target will Wang Haotian use the missiles carried by the "Wing Loong" 2.

Of course, when encountering a solid target, such as a permanent fortification, which is difficult to destroy with artillery shells, Wang Haotian will call nearby Saudi fighter jets.

In the event of a sudden encounter with the enemy, it will be handed directly to the armored units at the front.

In order to make use of this digital command system, Wang Dong asked Musharraf to recruit a group of electronic warfare personnel and let them assist Wang Haotian.

As for the combat effect, there is no need to say more.

In less than two hours, the assault force had advanced to the edge of the city.

According to reports from the front-line troops, not a single tank or tank was damaged, and at least more than a hundred rebel fortifications were destroyed.

Of course, most of it is the results of artillery.

The attacking forces did not stop and continued to lose the assault, only the advance was slower, and the 002nd Panzer Battalion was withdrawn and replaced by the 001st Panzer Battalion.

To be precise, only half of the strength of the 001st Armored Battalion, that is, 30 "Salman" main battle tanks.

The 001st Panzer Battalion was sent up, mainly because these "Salman" tanks were equipped with remote-controlled turrets, all of which were equipped with reactive armor for enhanced protection, and some of them also had urban warfare kits, which were more suitable for fighting in the city, while the "Khalid" obviously did not have such good treatment.

The pace of the attack is still not very fast, and it has been advancing steadily.

Kut is a strategic town for the rebels, and even if three brigades have been transferred before, there are tens of thousands of rebels left, many of whom are officers and soldiers of the Iranian Quds Brigade.

At noon, the attacking troops ran into trouble and had to stop.

The rebels have mined all the roads south of Kutnam!

After a fierce battle, the armored repair vehicles of the 001st Battalion dragged back the damaged "Salman" and sent the engineering company up.

The damage to the tank was not serious, it just blew up the left track, shattered the driver's night vision goggles, and it could be repaired.

All afternoon, it was the engineers who were busy.

All that was done was to clear the mines laid by the rebels with explosive strafing vehicles and clear the way for the attacking forces.

In order to prevent the rebels from laying more minefields, two artillery battalions opened fire in the afternoon, constantly inflicting casualties on the rebels in the city.

Actually, it's a bit redundant.

According to later investigations, the rebels had used up all the anti-tank mines, and they did not arrange for personnel to lay minefields when Wang Dong and his men attacked.

In the evening, after the engineering corps had cleared several passages, the attacking troops began to advance again.

At this time, Wang Dong withdrew the 001st Armored Battalion and let the 002nd Armored Battalion go up.

In addition, the intensity of the attack at night was not very strong, but more in response to the counterattack of the rebels, and it seems that the rebels thought that the night was more suitable for counterattacking.

By this time, Wang Dong's intentions couldn't have been more obvious.

Although the number of troops used in Kut, the support force for the offensive is extremely strong, and it is the elite unit of the government army.

With Karim's ability, he will definitely be able to make accurate judgments.

Obviously, Karim had no choice but to send more troops to Kut, or more precisely to launch a counterattack to eliminate the government forces attacking Kut.

You know, in terms of strategic value, Coote surpassed Diwaniye.

Without Kut, it would be difficult for the rebels to get aid from Iran.

More importantly, from Kut, it was possible to avoid the rebels' main defensive line south of Baghdad and march towards Baghdad from the east.

It's just that with the little defenders of the Coulter, you can eliminate the invading government forces?