It may seem strange to us that instances of psychological warfare are fairly common today, even with the extreme-sounding nature of the word. Legal definitions vary, with some citing subversion of the enemy's morale as the goal, whereas others define it based on concrete psychological damage. Either way, in this article, we are going to discuss the current situation and use of psychological warfare in the world and its implications.
The first major incident that we are going to discuss is the phenomenon of "roof-knocking," a tactic used by the Israeli Armed Forces. Roof-knocking goes something like this: in a nominal attempt to evacuate civilians from targeted buildings, the Israeli Air Force calls the inhabitants of the building and informs them that they have a 1-5 minute period to evacuate. In some of the instances, a smaller bomb on the roof of the building replaces the phone call. From leaflets to phone calls, these extremely damaging forms of alerting civilians of attacks constitute major instances of psychological warfare. As far as the bombs themselves, the roof knock explosives are deadly, and resulted in the death of Palestinian boys playing on the roof when the explosive struck. Despite this well-known practice of psychological warfare, the U.S. is the largest supplier of weapons to Israel through Foreign Military Aid.
The second major instance is the Russian use of media in the Ukrainian offensive. Ukraine was a member of the Russian Empire, who has since protested their consolidation into the modern Russian state, especially after the annexation of Crimea. Since the conflict started, social media has made the dissemination of propaganda much more efficient and available to a wider audience. Such propaganda ranges from images of dead children from Ukrainian NATO-trained gangs and operatives, to Russian victims of Ukrainian nationalist attacks. Margo Gontar, the subject of the Guardian's article on Russian media, scoured the internet for an unbiased source on the Ukrainian conflict, and traced the media techniques back to Russia's Cold War tactics. This is an ongoing psychological warfare situation through the spread of propaganda.
The 3rd major instance is in the Yemen conflict, in which Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have used psychological warfare against the Yemeni civilians and Houthi rebels. The Yemen conflict originated as a religious conflict in Yemen, but has now escalated to the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Again, propaganda and "fierce media" are the forms of violence that the KSA and the UAE have initiated in order to ensure a more devastating takeover, according to an interview on Tasnim News. Again, the U.S. has offered unrelenting military support to the KSA, which have used American aircraft to commit atrocious bombings with U.S. sponsored mid-air refueling. Additionally, the constant presence of drones and UAVs in the region means a constant lurking threat in the skies, since the drones are noiseless and invisible at the altitudes and conditions in which they operate. Constant fear of annihilation, coupled with a propaganda campaign, has rendered the use of psychological warfare by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates one of the most egregious in the world. You can see a study conducted by SANAA and Columbia University on the status of Yemeni mental health here.
Lastly, the United States engages in Psychological Warfare throughout the world. According to the Army webpage;
"PSYOP Soldiers have operated in Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo. PSYOP forces are currently operating in support of the Global War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Philippines."
However, several controversies surround the U.S.'s PSYOPs. In the 2000s, PsyOps interns were stationed at CNN and NPR, and they were later terminated from those stations. Since the purpose of PsyOps is to alter emotions, mindset, and thinking through media, this incident was especially disturbing. Here is the link to the NPR site on the issue. Additionally, the interrogation of prisoners through loud rock music as a form of torture to get prisoners to reveal information was a controversial form of psychological warfare that the U.S. engaged in.
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