Hybrid warfare is a modern form of conflict that goes beyond conventional military engagements by combining military and non-military tools in a coordinated and simultaneous manner. In this model, not only armed forces but also cyberattacks, information and perception operations, economic pressure, diplomatic maneuvers, and proxy forces play an active role. The primary objective of hybrid warfare is to undermine a target country’s decision-making processes, social stability, and state capacity without engaging in direct large-scale combat. This makes hybrid warfare a low-visibility, continuous, and highly adaptive threat model.

From a more technical perspective, hybrid warfare relies on multiple layers such as cyber warfare, electronic warfare, psychological operations, disinformation, special forces activities, and the manipulation of local actors. Countries including United States, Russia, and China have placed the hybrid warfare concept at the center of their modern defense doctrines. Influence campaigns conducted through social media, cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, and conflicts sustained via proxy groups demonstrate that hybrid warfare aims not at physical destruction, but at systemic collapse. This reality shows that contemporary wars can begin without formal declarations and that the line between war and peace is becoming increasingly blurred.