The wars in Occupied Palestine, Lebanon, and Ukraine have broken the pre-established definitions of technological integration into warfare. With Israel’s international law-breaching precision cyber operations against Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Ukraine’s long-range drone strike on Russian airbases, tech-enabled asymmetric tactics over traditional military might have shown that at its core, all war is deception.
Israel’s plan which began on September 17 against Hezbollah in Lebanon, involving new ways of war by the interception and booby-trapping of communication devices, killed senior leaders and disrupted the group’s command structure.
“Technology today allows you many new possibilities,” said former senior division director at Mossad, Eyal Tsir Cohen.
On the other side of the world, Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb on first of June with its drone attack on five Russian airfields exposed deep cracks in Russia’s strategic bomber fleet. It was a high-risk operation that used assembled mobile homes to smuggle drones thousands of miles behind enemy lines.
The result? More than 20 aircraft were struck, and at least 12 were destroyed.
War By Deception Is a War Compensated
Tech hubs’ global backing, particularly for Israel, translates into intelligence military dominance to back the notion that all war is deception, with the US establishing support of Israel’s innovation ecosystem has enabled it to become a leader in surveillance, drone warfare, and cyber intelligence.
These two operations reveal how supporting nations as the tech hubs such as the US has done with Israel and may increasingly do with Ukraine and other Middle Eastern allies can translate into dominance not only on the battlefield but also in cyberspace.
Israel’s tech sector has long been intertwined with its defense strategies, producing optimized surveillance, drone, and cyber capabilities. Similarly, Ukraine’s use of AI guided drones and asymmetric warfare which signals a shift toward tech enabled revolution as a military balance.
The operations lead to new questions, which could similarly support the hubs in the Middle East, such as in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Saudi Arabia (KSA), or even Ukraine in the future, have given rise to new regional powers with the ability to shape the battlefield?
In this tech dependent warfare environment, technology infrastructure and its international political foundations have become just as important as boots on the ground creating the idea that not all war is deception but rather bloody.
All Warfare Is Based on Deception
From booby-trapped pagers to walkie-talkie in Beirut’s suburbs, to southern Lebanon, and the northeast to the AI assisted drones over Mongolia, this deception has found a new front, a digital front.
“It always works both ways—it depends on which side is more sophisticated in exploiting the vulnerabilities of the other side,” Cohen noted.
These operations aren’t just about explosions but about reshaping the enemy’s psychology and logistics.
Senior fellow at the Middle East Institute Brian Katulis said, “The failure of thinking through the insecurities of the supply chain on the part of Hezbollah and the astounding failure by Russia—those were failures of imagination.”
Katulis continued to add that “If you can punch above your weight while also having limited costs and blowback to yourself, it can level the playing field.”
What made Israel’s operation deep was its ripple effect, the loss of Hezbollah leadership, weakening Iranian influence, and destabilizing Assad’s grip in Syria. Ukraine hopes for a similar new western way of war, said Israeli intelligence veteran Nadav Pollak.
Nadav Pollak stated that “if there wasn’t a cumulative aspect and effect, we wouldn’t think of it as strategically successful. One thing needs to happen after another—and if Ukraine continues to hit strategic assets, eventually they will have a cumulative effect as well.”
By Way of Deception Thou Shalt Do War
In Israel’s case, decades of US support have helped become a military tech powerhouse whose innovations often outdo conventional principle’s. With Ukraine now receiving similar backing, events aren’t on the same bloody and deadly level as compared to Gaza and Lebanon.
Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov displayed a Mossad biography on his desk openly admiring the Mossad’s tactics in 2022.
“Back in the 1970s, when Israel faced an existential threat and was surrounded by much more powerful enemies that plotted its elimination, it survived through asymmetric warfare. Ukraine, too, has to think asymmetrically—it’s our only chance to survive,” stated Ukraine’s former defense minister, Andriy Zagorodnyuk.
Dating from the first wars that took place, wars are filled with tactical sabotage teams whose efforts failed to turn the war tide. What these new western ways of war do achieve beyond physical damage is psychological disruption.
In Moscow, former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman, said Ukraine’s deep infiltration of Russia cuts personally for Putin, a former intelligence officer himself.
Hoffman stated that “the symbolism is potent because Putin is an intel officer himself and yet he’s suffering numerous intel failures.”
Inside Telecom provides you with an extensive list of content covering all aspects of the tech industry. Keep an eye on our Tech sections to stay informed and up-to-date with our daily articles.