Definition of Hybrid War

“A series of armed individuals, dressed in camouflage but who do not wear any insignia that identifies them with one side, have occupied this morning the main government buildings in the city, and it seems they have taken over or blocked the military barracks and the policeman. I do not know what happens, I do not know what they want or in which side they are, but I am sure that this is the culmination of the state of tension created in recent months and how patent we have been able to see on the networks social”.

This narrative, which does not correspond to any specific real event, is nevertheless inspired by various events that have occurred, over the last few years, in places such as the Crimea or the Donbass (Ukraine region), and which are a sample of a new type of conflict, called hybrid warfare.

Hybrid warfare consists of a type of confrontation, asymmetric and in which disinformation plays a decisive role, and in which cyberwar also plays an important role.

So far, the clearest examples of hybrid warfare involve regions with significant Russophone communities, such as Crimea and eastern Ukraine, which have become independent. de facto Ukraine and, in the case of Crimea, it has been integrated into Russia.

The main characteristic of hybrid warfare seems to be the exploitation of a latent social conflict into a war asymmetric rapid resolution with a military intervention from the territory itself and whose authorship is not patent from the first moment.

In this way, a state of confusion is created between the citizenship and the defense forces that disarticulate any attempt to defend against the aggression.

The action can be both aimed at achieving the secession of part of the territory affected, such as intervention later of a conventional army, generally of the neighboring country.

That is why hybrid warfare is a type of conflict indicated for countries that have minorities of their ethnicity in other territories, can separate them from neighboring states and end up integrating them into their own territory.

With the disintegration of the USSR, Russia was left with a large number of Russian-speaking national communities traditionally linked to Russia, in the territories of other countries.

This is due both to the expansion of the Russian Empire, and to the forced relocations of entire populations, generally ethnic minorities within the USSR, carried out in the time of Stalin.

The first phase of hybrid warfare is to fuel conflict, something for which a powerful counter-information and disinformation machine is needed.

It is in this phase when social networks come into play and, in them, both influencers and, above all, bot networks (profiles false, machine-controlled and automated), which are responsible for disseminating publications favorable to the attacker's thesis, as well as answer, attack and discredit the defenders of the theses of Internet users favorable to the side that, later, will become defender.

The second phase focuses on provocation in the streets.

Here almost everything goes to provoke the enemy, except an open armed confrontation: false flag attacks (simulating proceed from the other side), sabotage actions, foment confrontations between -for example- ultra groups of teams of football...

The purpose is to generate a weather from violence physical that justifies an armed intervention.

The next phase, the third, is usually an episode similar to that seen in Crimea and in the coup of the Donetsk Republic: the appearance of military elements on the street without identifying badges.

These elements generally act in much the same way as a coup d'état is carried out, controlling certain key elements, both civil and military.

The lack of badges on their uniforms sows confusion, something they are probably looking for, since no one was of those who know the ins and outs of the organization and are in it, knows exactly what it is that chase.

Finally, the hybrid war episode can end up leading to the secession of the territory, or the intervention of a foreign military force.

In the first case, we would be referring to what happened in the Donbass, while in the second case, Crimea would be a perfect example, since after the “little green men"Controlled the territory, the Russian army entered it to take over and annex Crimea to Russia.

Throughout the duration of the hybrid warfare operation, social media and cyber attacks (from hacking, DDoS, ...) to institutions, infrastructures and individuals of the attacked country, are part of the strategy.

In some cases, such as the alleged (to date, not yet conclusively proven) Russian interference in the North American elections which, if done, would only constitute a cyberattack, have also received the label of hybrid warfare by some analysts.

Hybrid warfare has emerged as a new type of asymmetric warfare, in which two armies of sizes and organizations very different they fight on the ground, but the tactics used equal or even put the team at a clear advantage. force smaller in size.

Countries like the Baltic republics, with large Russophone minorities, are already preparing to face this kind of war.

Photo: Fotolia - Sanchos303

Hybrid War themes