A War Without Fronts

Iran’s multi-front strategy of blending proxies, cyberattacks and economic pressure shows how hybrid warfare is emerging as a complex challenge for international security.

Sometime last month, four ambulances engaged in humanitarian service were set ablaze on the streets of North London. These vehicles belonged to a Jewish volunteer organization dedicated to saving lives in medical emergencies, without discrimination of religion or race. The very next day, in Bahrain, an Iranian drone targeted an Amazon facility, disrupting its web services. This followed an earlier attack on an Amazon data center in the United Arab Emirates. These incidents reflect a calculated pattern of hybrid warfare that blends conventional and unconventional tactics, and one that is likely to assume an even more serious and far-reaching dimension in the days ahead as the ongoing Iran conflict continues to escalate.

Its impact is not limited to West Asia but is poised to have far-reaching consequences on global systems such as energy, technology, and artificial intelligence. India is already bearing the brunt of this onslaught. While the supply of petrol and diesel remains largely stable for now, pressures on LPG and PNG have intensified. A sudden surge in online bookings for domestic gas has caused servers to crash, while cybercriminals take advantage of the disruption to target unsuspecting users.

Taking heed from the last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer (the joint Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear architecture), Iran has redefined its strategy to inflict maximum damage on Israel and the United States by adopting a ‘multi-front war’ approach. Breaking away from conventional military structures, Iran has established around thirty command centers within its territory to decentralize operations. This ensures that even if top leadership (including the Supreme Leader) is neutralized, each command can make autonomous decisions and sustain the fight indefinitely. For Iran, victory in this conflict is maximizing the harm to its adversaries and shaping global public opinion. To this end, it has also intensified economic warfare.

Attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz form a key part of this strategy. Notably, the targeted countries had no direct involvement in the conflict. Around 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supply passes through this route. Each strike deepens the energy crises while disrupting global supply chains and heightening the risk of economic recession. Iran’s intent appears clear that to drive crude oil prices to $150-200 per barrel.

Proxy Strategies

Iran has long relied on a proxy strategy rather than direct warfare, much like Pakistan has historically sought to destabilize India through sponsored terrorism. At times, this involves influencing individuals within a country through social media and propaganda to push them toward acts of terror; at other times, it entails sending trained militants across borders to carry out attacks. Incidents like the one in Pahalgam, where innocents were killed based on their faith, they expose the brutality of this terrifying strategy. Similarly, through militia groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia, Iran keeps its adversaries entangled on multiple fronts, thus challenge major powers even with limited resources.

Recent developments indicate that the conflict has now extended into technological and economic domains. Attacks on data centers signal that artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure have become part of the battlefield. In this context, undersea internet cables running through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea are under potential threat, which connect Europe, Asia, and India. Furthermore, it could attack oil tankers passing through the Red Sea and, much like the Strait of Hormuz, could also blockade Bab el-Mandeb. Although Iran does not have direct geographical access to the Red Sea, it can target these cables through the Iran-backed Houthi militias active in Yemen. This group could serve as a strategic ‘trump card’ for Iran in the conflict, one that has not yet been fully leveraged. On the Red Sea, both Djibouti and Sanaa are considered key centers of Houthi influence, heightening the seriousness of this threat.

The gravity of the situation is evident from the fact that cable-laying companies, including affiliates of Alcatel Submarine Networks, have invoked ‘force majeure,’ meaning they cannot guarantee service restoration in case of disruptions. Security risks are currently so severe that no private company can take action against armed groups such as the Houthis.

Should this network be disrupted, it would have wide-reaching consequences for India, particularly southern India, and the Gulf countries. Nearly 17 percent of global internet traffic passes through this route, meaning communication, financial transactions, and digital services could all be significantly affected.

Massive Damage

The conflict could also impact technological investments. Growing ties between the Gulf countries and Silicon Valley, particularly in the field of Al, may be affected by this instability. At the same time, tensions between the U.S. and Iran over strategic hubs like Kharg Island could escalate further. If the U.S. establishes control, Iran may intensify its hybrid warfare; if not, it is likely to continue both kinetic and hybrid operations from there while maintaining oil exports over the long term.

Following the incident in North London, signs of Iran-backed plots have emerged in the UK, highlighting that this conflict has now taken on a truly global dimension. As many Cassandras are already predicting, the war could well prove to be a catastrophe for Donald Trump and the United States not unlike previous quagmires like Vietnam. In fact, regardless of the outcome, the adverse effects of hybrid warfare will be felt worldwide.

India faces a stark future. The country could face an energy crisis, disruptions to internet connectivity, a slowdown in Al and emerging technology investments, and the threat of a potential global economic downturn. Cyberattacks (including DDoS, phishing, and ransomware) could target IT and banking infrastructures. What is clear is that hybrid warfare has now moved beyond conventional conflict to become a multi-layered global crisis, one poised to deeply impact the international order, the global economy, and security frameworks in the years ahead.

India’s Strategy in the Age of Hybrid Warfare

Today, India faces not only conventional military threats but also the multifaceted challenges of emerging hybrid warfare, manifesting through cyberattacks, information warfare, economic coercion, and disinformation campaigns. At the India Defence Conclave on 20 September 2022, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari underscored this reality, noting that “the environment in our neighbourhood is far from ideal.” He emphasized that effectively countering hybrid warfare requires securing a technological edge and closely integrating economic growth with the development of indigenous military capabilities. This observation succinctly captures the complex and evolving nature of contemporary security concerns.

In recognition of these challenges, India has initiated deep institutional and technological reforms at the national level. The creation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in 2019, along with the roadmap for theatreisation, has steered the Army, Navy, and Air Force toward a more integrated approach to multi-domain warfare. Initiatives such as Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs), the Defence Cyber Agency (established in 2021), and the indigenisation of defence equipment under the Make in India programme are strengthening military-industrial self-reliance.

In the realm of cybersecurity, agencies like the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) are actively engaged in monitoring and responding to threats across fintech systems, energy grids, communication networks, and government digital infrastructure. These institutions serve as the backbone of the national cyber defence architecture, developing capabilities for granular threat detection and mitigation through technologies such as Real-Time Situational Awareness (RTSA) and electronic warfare.

In response to the surge of cyber incidents targeting institutions such as AIIMS, airlines, railway, banking systems, and government servers, India has further strengthened initiatives like Digital India, Cyber Surakshit Bharat, and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C), reinforcing its preparedness against an evolving cyber threat landscape.

In view of the multidimensional nature of hybrid warfare, India's intelligence agencies are being equipped with advanced technologies, data analytics, and Al-driven tools, including RAW, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO). These enhancements aim to enable the early detection of adversarial activities such as cross-border infiltration, covert operations, and information warfare campaigns originating from neighbouring countries.

At the international level, India is deepening cooperation under the Quad framework with the United States, Australia, and Japan, building a multi-layered network of collaboration in cybersecurity, maritime security, and counterterrorism. In the same vein, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence (2024) has identified hybrid warfare as a central pillar of national defence strategy, undertaking a comprehensive review across 17 critical domains and putting forward a series of key recommendations.

Alongside these efforts, Section 69A of the IT Act, coupled with the Sahyog Portal, has enabled the government to block thousands of anti-India social media accounts, YouTube channels, and OTT platforms in recent years. These actions have significantly strengthened the protection of national security, public order, and sovereignty. Through the Sahyog Portal, the government has issued over 2,300 content-blocking directives across 19 online platforms, with the highest number of actions taken against WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram during October 2024 to October 2025, after the implementation of the IT Rules, 2021.

Taken together, these measures reflect India's evolving defence posture in the age of hybrid warfare; one that integrates technology, institutional coordination, and public awareness as three core pillars. This approach is shaping a security strategy that is modern, multidimensional, and resilient in the face of emerging threats.

The Age of Hidden Threats

Hybrid warfare is a strategy that blends conventional military operations with cyberattacks, economic coercion, disinformation campaigns, and covert infiltration. Its objective is to weaken a nation's internal stability, economic framework, and public psyche, often without any formal declaration of war. India's diverse socio-religious fabric and its strategic geopolitical position make it particularly vulnerable to such non-traditional forms of aggression. In many ways, this marks a return to older traditions of statecraft, where espionage, subversion and psychological pressure were as decisive as armies, now supercharged by digital technology and global connectivity.

According to Teija Tiilikainen, Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), Helsinki (Finland), hybrid warfare involves the “manipulation of the information space,” with its impact often directed at a country's critical infrastructure. Its inherent ambiguity makes it especially dangerous, as identifying the actors behind such attacks and formulating an effective response becomes exceedingly complex. Plausible deniability, once the preserve of intelligence agencies, has now become a central feature of interstate competition, allowing adversaries to operate in the grey zone between peace and war.

Historically, during the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in forms of hybrid warfare to avoid full-scale confrontation. From CIA-backed interventions in Latin America to KGB-sponsored disinformation campaigns in Europe, the superpowers refined techniques that sought to destabilise societies without triggering nuclear escalation. Radio broadcasts, covert funding of political movements and propaganda networks were the tools of the age. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's diminished military capacity led it to increasingly rely on hybrid tactics as a means of avoiding direct conflict with the West. This evolution became starkly visible in conflicts such as Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine after 2014, where cyberattacks, irregular forces and information warfare were deployed in tandem with conventional force.

In the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, Hezbollah employed a combination of guerrilla tactics, advanced technology, and information warfare, an early illustration of modern hybrid conflict. Its use of media messaging alongside battlefield tactics demonstrated how perception could be as potent as firepower. Similarly, the explosions targeting the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022 are widely viewed as part of such covert, hybrid activities. Whether or not attribution is ever conclusively established, the incident underscored how critical infrastructure - energy lifelines in particular - has become a theatre of strategic contestation.

For India, the threat is a clear and present danger. Reports have revealed that a Chinese technology firm, Zhenhua Data Information Technology, monitored over 10,000 Indian individuals and organizations, highlighting the growing role of cyber and information warfare. This reflects a broader pattern of strategic competition between India and China, where border tensions along the Line of Actual Control are increasingly complemented by digital surveillance, economic leverage and influence operations. Between 2023 and 2025, more than 465 incidents of GPS interference and spoofing were reported in the Amritsar and Jammu air corridors, raising serious concerns about the safety of both civilian and military aviation. Such disruptions hint at the vulnerability of navigation systems that underpin both commerce and defence, and illustrate how even peacetime infrastructure can be quietly contested.

Meanwhile, the rapid spread of misinformation, fake news, and disinformation through social media platforms is increasingly targeting democratic processes and national cohesion. Elections, once bounded by geography, are now exposed to transnational manipulation, where narratives can be engineered and amplified in real time. Hybrid warfare today is no longer confined to physical borders; it is being waged in cyberspace, through data networks, and within the public consciousness itself. Addressing this evolving threat requires India to build a resilient strategy anchored in three key pillars: institutional coordination, technological self-reliance, and widespread public awareness.