If they are in a defensive position, 200 soldiers should be able to hold off 500 enemy without much difficulty until reinforcements arrive.
Does anyone remember the Alamo? The odds were about 10-1, and the Texans held off the Mexicans for almost two weeks. The Iraqi army can bring in reinforcements in a matter of days.
Does any one remember the fist Nam battle? To few Troops going up against an enemy well entrenched with tunnels, on their turf, 20 yrs of Endo China fighting the French behind them. Lt Col Moore, Battle of Ia Drang. Well done version by Mel Gibson “We were Soldiers”. There is a special section on the Nam Wall for them. They are not among the official 58,000 KIA, as we were not officially at war yet.
What was sickening was the media rushed in after the battle and took pics not of our shot up Troops, but of the piles of dead enemy bodies. They helped turn the American public against our Men. AS the still do today.
Russia to the rescue!
The video accompanying the story is worth taking the time to watch. A BBC reporter embedded with Kurdish forces in a Jalula is caught in a skirmish. They all take refuge in an abandoned building. At some point the BBC reporter is heard beseeching someone via phone to contact a senior commander and ask him to send reinforcements.
If ISIS cuts off the electricity & water supply of the defenders, it might end fairly quickly-—IRAQ in the summer is not a pleasant place.