Executive Summary: Once thought a vestige of the past, Eastern European mercenaries have returned to Africa under the leadership of Romanian Horațiu Potra. Potra runs a private military company (PMC) composed of other Romanian former members of the French Foreign Legion. Both Potra and his... MORE

Executive Summary: Abdul Hamid Khorasani is an opportunistic Taliban military commander from Afghanistan’s Panjshir Province. An ethnic Tajik popular in his home province, Khorasani had previously voiced opposition to the Pashtu-dominated Taliban. Protected by his association with the Haqqani network, Khorasani has been able to... MORE

Executive Summary: Bao Youxiang is the architect of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the armed wing of the United Wa State Party (UWSP). Bao has led the group since 1995 and has successfully modernized both the local economy and the ethnic Wa militia—the largest... MORE

Executive Summary: Recently, Satoshi Kirishima and Daniela Klette were located in their respective home countries of Japan and Germany. Both Kirishima and Klette were radical left-wing militants in the 1970s who managed to use clever tactics and false identities to evade identification and prosecution for... MORE

Executive Summary: Yahya Sinwar is considered the mastermind of Hamas’s “al-Aqsa Flood” operation against Israel on October 7, 2023, alongside Mohammed al-Deif, who leads Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. Despite his decision to stay in Gaza and his placement at the top of Israel’s... MORE

Executive Summary Mullah Noorullah Noori has recently questioned the validity of the Durand Line, the internationally recognized border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, raising tensions between Kabul and Islamabad. Noori is currently Minister for Borders and Tribal Affairs in the Taliban government in Afghanistan, and served... MORE

Executive Summary GRU Colonel-General Yunus-Bek Bamatgireyevich Yevkurov has been tasked with taking over Russia’s operations in Africa from the Wagner Group. Proven and effective, he will be a formidable threat to Western interests in the region. Yevkurov is a Muslim Ingush from Russia’s North Caucasus... MORE

Executive Summary Abdul Mateen is the fugitive leader of Islamic State (IS) in al-Hind, and his network has been behind a series of bombings in southern India in the last five years. While his group has been seriously degraded by the National Investigation Agency (NIA),... MORE

Executive Summary Salaheddin Faroughi (alias Abdolrahim Mollahzadeh) is the emir of Jaish-al-Adl (JAA), a militant group seeking autonomy or an independent state for the Baloch people of Iran and Pakistan. JAA was the proximate cause of the most recent series of cross-border fights between the... MORE

Executive Summary Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian leader serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prison for his role in the second intifada. Hamas has included his name at the top of their list of prisoners to be exchanged for hostages taken in the October 7,... MORE