Keyword: cyber warfare

The concept of “conflicted areas” (or conflict-affected areas) has traditionally been defined by the physical presence of armed violence within identifiable geographic boundaries. However, the rapid proliferation of remote warfare technologies, including precision-guided missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, cyber weapons, and proxy networks, has fundamentally altered the spatial logic of armed conflict. This article examines how the 2025–2026 Iran war challenges established understandings of what constitutes a conflicted area. It argues that when belligerents can project lethal force across thousands of kilometers, striking military installations, civilian infrastructure, and population centers in states that are not formal parties to a conflict, the traditional territorial framing of conflicted areas becomes inadequate. Drawing on international humanitarian law scholarship, remote warfare literature, and empirical evidence from the ongoing conflict, this article proposes a reconceptualization of conflicted areas that accounts for the deterritorialized, networked, and multi-domain character of contemporary warfare.