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Template:Did you know nominations/Armoured warfare of ISIL

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:25, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Armoured warfare of ISIL

ISIL tank in Raqqa in 2014
ISIL tank in Raqqa in 2014
  • ... that Syrian and Iraqi ISIL tank drivers had a strong presence on social media, with many being members of Facebook tank enthusiast groups? Source: "Many of the Islamic State tankers active on Facebook are not only friends with each other, but also with fighters of various other factions fighting for control over Syria. Indeed, most appear to have bonded by their shared passion for armoured fighting vehicles, choosing to ignore whatever religious beliefs and other differences may divide them. Posing with their tanks, photographing them from different angles and even becoming members of tank enthusiast groups on Facebook, their presence on social media certainly provides for an interesting insight into the life of Islamic State fighters one doesn't get to see often." (Oryx; note that this blog is a reliable source, as the authors have published literature and are themselves cited in reliable sources, for example the Oxford University Press-published Blood Year: The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism)

Created by Applodion (talk). Self-nominated at 11:32, 8 October 2020 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems

Hook eligibility:

  • Cited: No - I think for this factoid to appear on the main page, we need something better than a blog post with no verifiable sources for the information. The author, Stijn Mitzer, has not published any books with OUP.
  • Interesting: Yes
Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.

QPQ: No - TBD
Overall: (t · c) buidhe 13:43, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

@Buidhe: Thanks for the review. How about ALT1: "... that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fielded hundreds of tanks in Syria and Iraq?" (Knights, Michael; Mello, Alexander (2015). "The Cult of the Offensive: The Islamic State on Defense", p. 2; this is one is an article by the Combating Terrorism Center, although it also uses Oryx as reference. Is that better?) Applodion (talk) 15:32, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
That post does indeed cite sources, and if the CTC thinks it's credible I don't see why not. (t · c) buidhe 16:06, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
@Buidhe: Added the QPQ. Applodion (talk) 22:07, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
(t · c) buidhe 02:48, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
  • Hi, I came by to promote ALT1, but am having trouble finding the hook fact in the article. I only see "several dozen". Could you point out the fact to me? Thanks, Yoninah (talk) 16:09, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
@Yoninah: Sorry, I forgot to update this part; have changed the wording in that instance to "over a hundred", quoting by Knights & Mello. I have also changed the wording in the hook accordingly; although ISIL used hundreds of tanks over the years, it never fielded them all at the same time. "Over a hundred" seems to have been the maximium of concurrently used tanks, around 2014/15. In this way, the hook is more precise.
ALT2: ... that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fielded over a hundred tanks in Syria and Iraq? Applodion (talk) 22:33, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
  • Thank you. ALT2 hook ref verified and cited inline. Rest of review per Buidhe. ALT2 good to go. Yoninah (talk) 22:56, 14 October 2020 (UTC)