What the heck is a "soft war"?

What is a " soft war"? Bet a soldier that's there can give you a good answer. Now I have heard everything. We have had proxy wars; cold wars; economic wars; hot wars and now according to one expert who was asked "are we at war with Iran"? We have a "soft war". Pentagon upset at poor recruiting and is starting to talk of a draft? Retaliation for attack on our troops that killed 3 and injured 25? Everyone says it "must hurt them". Some talking about war powers act to enable president but if its self defense like the other 158 attacks since 7 Oct we don't need that kind of authorization. Clear that we must do something within a 70 hr window to make it meaningful. The have tied up our only carrier (the Eisenhower) defending itself from missiles and kamikazi drones constantly to the point its stuck there.