Hybrid wars: A historical-comparative study of cases of Russian military interventions in afghanistan (1979) and Ukraine (2014) and Israeli-Lebanese wars (1982,2006)

The main subject of this study is the comparative investigation of traditional and new generation warfare approaches in consideration of the discussions of change in the nature and character of the war with the emergence of the 'hybrid war' notion. In this purpose, the warfare strategies of the Soviet Union in the Afghanistan intervention in 1979, that of the Russia in the Ukraine in 2014, and those of Israel in Lebanon in 1982 and 2006 were selected as the cases and thoroughly examined. Based on these cases, answers were sought for the following questions: "Is the hybrid war a new warfare approach? If so, what renders today's wars different from those of the past? In other words, what is the 'new thing' in the hybrid wars?" Main findings demonstrated that the Afghanistan, Ukraine, and 1982 and 2006 Lebanon wars were hybrid wars with similar nature and characteristics. This result demonstrated that hybrid war is not a new generation warfare, it is nothing more than the Clausewitz's 'people, army and government' trinity, representing the same nature and the same character today.