THE United States-Israel war on Iran has ushered us into a new age of warfare.
Precision-guided missiles guided by low-Earth orbit satellites, bunker-busting bombs dropped by stealth jet fighters, Tomahawk cruise missiles, sonic weapons, and artificial intelligence-driven surveillance have fearfully changed the battlefield. These innovations have made wars by remote more inhumane, devastating and insanely fast.
Iran has demonstrated how improvised weapons can be a match for superior and technologically advanced militaries. It has launched deadly Shahed kamikaze drones that swarmed and inflicted heavy damage on US bases in the Gulf and their host nations. These one-way attack drones are cheap and easy to manufacture, with the ability to overwhelm US air defense systems that cost billions of dollars to produce. Across the Middle East and Eastern Europe, such drones were proven successful in damaging military installations, energy infrastructure, and even command centers.
But modern technologies alone hardly win wars. The US and Israeli militaries learned that airstrikes, missiles and other modern weapons cannot solely topple Iran’s Islamic regime. Despite the decapitation strike that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his top lieutenants, Iranian opposition remained resilient and even retaliated relentlessly against the US and its Gulf allies. At some stage, US infantry forces must enter Iran’s territory and overthrow what is left of its military.
But President Donald Trump is wary of putting American boots on the ground that can prolong the war and cause more deaths, eroding the support of his Make America Great Again base as the conflict drags on. Any military expert will tell you that wars cannot be won by air campaigns or artillery alone. During World War II, Joseph Stalin sent millions of Red Army soldiers into Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe despite heavy bombing and artillery barrages on Germany. The final battle for Berlin became the war’s bloodiest, with Nazi fanatics resisting fiercely while hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians perished in the intense fighting.
Another mode of warfare is the increasing dependence on mercenaries and proxy fighters. Across geopolitical conflicts — from Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East to Africa and Southeast Asia — governments are using mercenaries to fight wars on their nations’ behalf. Their roles in today’s warfare are crucial in light of the rising human toll of these conflicts and lack of volunteers.
In the current campaign against Tehran, Kurdish militias are being enticed by the Central Intelligence Agency to be America’s proxies or hired guns to fight Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on the ground. The Kurds are known US allies who helped them destroy the brutal Islamic State caliphate in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. They have proven themselves as ferocious and courageous fighters. However, the US has a proclivity to abandon them once the mission is done and the geopolitical priorities have shifted.
The Philippines had its own experience with mercenaries. At the height of the communist insurgency, the Armed Forces of the Philippines organized the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit, or Cafgu, composed of civilian volunteers armed and financed by the military to defend rural communities from the New People’s Army. In southern Mindanao, the Ilaga (rat) paramilitary cult, mostly composed of Ilonggos, fought with the military in the conflict against Muslim separatists, resulting in cycles of violence and reprisals.
The use of mercenary armies is hardly new. Ancient empires relied on hired warriors. The Romans recruited Germanic tribes like the Goths and Saxons with promises of silver and lands to fight their imperial campaigns. In Russia’s “special military operations” in Ukraine, foreign mercenaries were paid to bolster their depleting troops. Mercenary armies became more common today, such as private military contractors like the Blackwater or Wagner outfit.
Despite the emergence of hypersonic missiles, drone warfare, and stealth jet fighters, the decisive phase of all wars still happens in face-to-face combat on the ground. It is there where the most committed and motivated soldiers often decide the final outcome. Now for the Kurds, they are open to fight for the Americans in Iran, but they insist on securing high-grade weapons and air support. This posed a dilemma, since by building the Kurds’ military stockpiles, they will surely pursue their national ambitions and turn against Turkey, Syria and Iraq to carve out their own territory. These mercenaries often destabilize the regions they were supposed to pacify once they get stronger.
The blitz war in the Middle East is a stark reminder to our Philippine military and defense officials to recalibrate their approaches in fostering territorial integrity and safeguarding the people’s welfare. Modern technologies may have changed the dynamics of the battlefield, but the responsibility remains with the people inside the territory to resist and defend against foreign invasion.
No one will fight our battles except us.