Hybrid Armed Actors in the MENA Region

This comparative research project aims to analyse the development of hybrid armed actors in Iraq, Lebanon, and Libya.

Western policymakers have long sought to distinguish between ‘state’ and ‘non-state’ armed actors. Yet, in the MENA region, a number of armed groups straddle this binary: they are affiliated with the state and at times cooperate with it, while at other times they compete against it. 

Moreover, these actors have developed a range of interests that extend beyond security functions. These include engagement in the public and private sectors, often supplementing their income from state sources, and engagement in representative politics.

From 2019 to 2023, this project explored means of characterising and defining these ‘hybrid’ armed actors, examine their military and economic capabilities, their relationships with local communities and perceptions of legitimacy, the role of ideology, and their relationships with external patrons and interactions with regional conflict dynamics.