The Syrian War as Hybrid Warfare Oriented Toward Regime Change (2011–2024)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26792/rbed.v13i1.75517Keywords:
Syrian War; Hybrid Warfare; Regime Change; Indirect Conflict.Abstract
This article argues that the Syrian War is best understood as a paradigmatic case of hybrid warfare oriented toward regime change, rather than as a “civil war” or a “proxy
war” in isolation. It contends that, well before 2011, Syria was treated by Washington as a strategic hinge within a broader regional redesign aimed at weakening the Iran–
Syria–Hezbollah axis and preserving key allied advantages, activating a coercive architecture that combined legal-diplomatic pressure, sanctions, covert action, indirect
assistance, informational manipulation, and the delegation of violence to local proxies. On the ground, the convergence of competing external patronage (the United States,
Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, among others) and the counterbalancing intervention of the pro-regime bloc (Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah) generated insurgent fragmentation, empowered jihadist currents, deepened governance disputes, and internationalized the
conflict at an early stage. Drawing on process tracing, and literature review, the article reconstructs the causal mechanism through which hybrid instruments increased costs, eroded state capacities, and reshaped armed actors’ incentives, culminating in the exhaustion of the Assad government and the reconfiguration of Syria’s political-military landscape after 2024.
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