Hybrid Warfare

Battlegrounds of the Future

Abstract

In the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah War of 2006, Israel's Army, one of the most technologically advanced militaries of the world, was pitted against the fundamentalist Shia Muslim organization Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah, a non-state armed group, was armed with high-tech weaponry and other disruptive technologies, such as Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs), anti-tank missiles, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that are traditionally used by the regular forces of a country. Hezbollah forces shot down Israeli helicopters, severely damaged a patrol boat with a cruise missile, and destroyed a large number of armored tanks by firing guided missiles from hidden bunkers. The group's guerrillas stood their ground with their hi-tech weaponry and guerrilla tactics. They operated in a decentralised manner at the tactical levels, from both their urban and mountain bases, and shocked the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) with their conventional-cum-unconventional forms of warfare. Israel accepted that it committed a mistake in not adequately preparing for a ‘hybrid' conflict with Hezbollah.2 US Army Chief General George W. Casey said that a new type of war that would become increasingly common in the future would be “a hybrid of irregular warfare and conventional warfare.”