Editing Siege (section)

===Post-World War II===
[[File:Dien Bien Phu002.jpg|thumb|right|French troops seeking cover in trenches, Dien Bien Phu, 1954]]

[[File:Sarajevo Siege Collecting Firewood 2.jpg|thumb|right|Sarajevo residents collecting firewood, winter of 1992–1993]]

[[File:Marawi-structures-stats.jpg|thumb|right|Map of destroyed infrastructure following the [[Battle of Marawi|siege of Marawi]], 2017]]

Several times during the [[Cold War]] the western powers had to use their airbridge expertise.

* The [[Berlin Blockade]] from June 1948 to September 1949, the Western Powers flew over 200,000 flights, providing to West Berlin up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day.
* Airbridge was used extensively during the [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] during the [[First Indochina War]], but failed to prevent its fall to the [[Việt Minh]] in 1954.
* In [[Vietnam War|the next Vietnam War]], airbridge proved crucial during the siege of the American base at [[Battle of Khe Sanh|Khe Sanh]] in 1968. The resupply it provided kept the [[People's Army of Vietnam|North Vietnamese Army]] from capturing the base.

In both Vietnamese cases, the [[Viet Minh]] and [[National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam|NLF]] were able to cut off the opposing army by capturing the surrounding rugged terrain.<ref>See for example the challenges noted in {{harvnb|Windrow|2005|pp=437,438}}</ref> At Dien Bien Phu, the French were unable to use air power to overcome the siege and were defeated.{{sfn|Morocco|1984|p=52}} However, at Khe Sanh, a mere 14 years later, advances in air power—and a reduction in Vietnamese anti-aircraft capability—allowed the United States to withstand the siege. The resistance of US forces was assisted by the [[People's Army of Vietnam|PAVN]] and [[Viet Cong|PLAF]] forces' decision to use the Khe Sanh siege as a strategic distraction to allow their mobile warfare offensive, the first [[Tet Offensive]], to unfold securely.

The Battle of Khe Sanh displays typical features of modern sieges, as the defender has greater capacity to withstand the siege, the attacker's main aim is to bottle operational forces or create a strategic distraction, rather than take the siege to a conclusion.

In neighboring Cambodia, at that time known as the [[Cambodian coup of 1970|Khmer Republic]], the [[Khmer Rouge]] used siege tactics to cut off supplies from [[Phnom Penh]] to other government-held enclaves in an attempt to break the will of the government to continue fighting.

In 1972, during the Easter offensive, the siege of [[An Lộc, Bình Phước|An Lộc]] Vietnam occurred. ARVN troops and U.S. advisers and air power successfully defeated communist forces. The Battle of An Lộc pitted some 6,350 ARVN men against a force three times that size. During the peak of the battle, ARVN had access to only one 105&nbsp;mm howitzer to provide close support, while the enemy attack was backed by an entire artillery division. ARVN had no tanks, the NVA communist forces had two armoured regiments. ARVN prevailed after over two months of continuous fighting. As General Paul Vanuxem, a French veteran of the Indochina War, wrote in 1972 after visiting the liberated city of An Lộc: "An Lộc was the Verdun of Vietnam, where Vietnam received as in baptism the supreme consecration of her will."

During the [[1982 Lebanon War]], the [[Israel Defence Forces]] [[Siege of Beirut|besieged]] [[Beirut]], the capital of [[Lebanon]], to quickly realize their goals including the eviction of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] from the country.

During the [[Yugoslav Wars]] in the 1990s, [[Republika Srpska]] forces [[Siege of Sarajevo|besieged]] [[Sarajevo]], the capital of [[Bosnia-Herzegovina]]. The siege lasted from April 1992 until February 1996.

Numerous sieges haven taken place during the [[Syrian civil war]], such as the [[siege of Homs]], [[siege of Kobanî]], [[siege of Deir ez-Zor (2014–2017)]], [[siege of Nubl and al-Zahraa]], and [[siege of al-Fu'ah and Kafriya]].

Multiple sieges took place in the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]], most notably the [[siege of Mariupol]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-says-situation-mariupol-very-difficult-rejects-surrender-ultimatum-2022-03-21/ | title=Ukraine says situation in besieged Mariupol is 'very difficult' | newspaper=Reuters | date=21 March 2022 | last1=Polityuk | first1=Pavel | last2=Zinets | first2=Natalia }}</ref>

The [[Gaza war]] contained multiple sieges, including the [[siege of Gaza City]] and the [[siege of Khan Yunis]].