I feel like it was the hostages, and not the guns that kept them at bay. If there weren’t white children in the compound and the government was allowed to play by the rules it does in the middle east in regards to acceptable civilian casualties, everyone in that compound would’ve been dead in an hour.

If that compound had no guns and they were armed with just knives the government would still hold off on raiding it since they would have to shoot people inside tight corridors where the possibility for civilian casualties is high.