Opinion Analysis by Johnny Achkar, Featured Writer

May 9th, 2021

To begin with, mercenarism is almost as ancient as war, but it has always been regarded with suspicion. Fighting was assigned to noble men who prioritized the protection of their homeland, while mercenaries were seen as at best hustlersfor hire who fought in foreign causes in order to earn money in return. One example of this is the Varangian Guard, a band of Viking soldiers hired to act as the personal bodyguard of the Byzantine Emperor. They were descendants of Norsemen who first ventured south as pirates and merchants. The Emperor Basil II, who favored the axe-wielding barbarians to his more easily corruptible compatriots, founded the Guard in the late 10th century. The group was highly useful in putting down an uprising, and they went on to serve as Constantinople's protectors for over two centuries. In 1870, the United Kingdom officially acknowledged the concept of mercenaries when it passed the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870 intended to restrict mercenary operations carried out by British civilians. One of the first modern mercenary groups was Executive Outcomes, which was founded in 1989. Executive Outcomes, unlike other "consultants" or "contractors," had a lethal arsenal of mostly ex-Soviet arms, including a Mi-24 Hind gunship. EO was deployed to numerous regions in Africa, as they were tasked with protecting oil companies and trained soldiers.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the use of such contractors has become commonplace in the Middle East and elsewhere. When most people think of private military contractors, they think of Blackwater Security Consulting, which was established in Iraq in 2007. The demand for force, on the other hand, has evolved. In comparison to the Wagner Group and other modern mercenaries, companies like Blackwater are old-fashioned. Multinational corporations, especially in the extractive industries, are the most frequent mercenary clients. Companies operating in dangerous environments are turning to private security forces instead of relying on corrupt or incompetent security forces supported by host governments.

Although the United Nations Mercenary Convention prohibits the recruitment, training, and financing of mercenaries, their days are far from finished.

In today's modern wars, mercenaries are everywhere, transparently spanning numerous continents and countries. To better unpack their persistence, one must take into account the advantages that foreign mercenaries hold over traditional armies. There are several reasons, yet the main motives can be summed up as follows: compared to conventional armies, foreign mercenaries have many advantages. Manpower is the first and most apparent, as military forces appear to be stretched thin when a state is involved in several hostile engagements at the same time. Recruiting foreign fighters is a simple way to increase the size of the army. Politics is the second benefit of private armies.

The image of a wounded or dead soldier is one of the dangers of a successful military operation. A single photograph can convey a thousand words, and when such photographs are broadcast into people's living rooms, society becomes demoralized.

The most evident case of this is the Vietnam War, where pictures and footage of dead US soldiers and Vietnamese civilians appeared on television screens and magazine pages around the world, eventually swaying public opinion against the conflict. The blowback is minimized, however, by using foreign mercenaries. Foreign troops, after all, are foreign. The third and final justification for enlisting the help of foreign mercenaries is to maintain plausible denial. War is the continuation of political negotiations, and a state receives informational ammunition by recruiting private security contractors. The state or regime may make a plausible denial of involvement, making it difficult for opponents to react directly. Thus, mercenary activity has significantly increased because of these advantages.

The Middle East is awash with mercenaries, with recent years seeing major mercenary activity in the region. Kurdistan is a refuge for soldiers of fortune seeking jobs with the Kurdish militia, oil producers protecting their oil reserves, and others seeking the death of terrorists. Some are simply seeking adventure, while others are American veterans who have considered civilian life unfulfilling. Irbil, Kurdistan's capital, has also evolved into an illegal marketplace for mercenary services. Comparably, Syria rewards contractors who capture territories from terrorists with oil and mining rights, turning profit motive into a war strategy. Evro Polis and Stroytransgaz are two Russian companies that have won contracts because of this policy. Mercenaries employed by these oil and mining companies then did the dirty work. Evro Polis, for example, used the Wagner Group to seize oil fields in central Syria from the so-called Islamic State (IS), which it did. Moreover, In Syria, Iran has established an entire unit of Shiite Afghans known as the Fatemioun Brigade, which is thought to number in the thousands. Iran has denied their presence and any involvement in their formation for years.

Apart from Mr. Khamenei's recent praise, Iranian media coverage of Afghan fighters in Syria has increased since last year. Fatemioun recruits spend 25 to 35 days at a "special training base" within Iran before being dispatched to Syria, according to the hardline Kayhan newspaper, and there are regular, publicized  burials of Afghan "martyrs," especially in Mashhad, Iran's northeast shrine region. In 2016, Iran's parliament voted to grant citizenship to the families of foreign martyrs who died on the country's behalf since the 1980s, a provision that would extend to Afghans fighting in Syria.

In Africa, the situation is similar.

Nigeria recruited mercenaries in secret to deal with a major issue: Boko Haram. This Islamic terrorist organization is fighting to establish a caliphate in Nigeria, and the Nigerian army is fighting back with similar tactics. ‘When elephants battle, the grass gets trampled’, as the African proverb goes. Thousands of civilians were killed, and another 2.3 million were forced to flee their homes. Thousands of foreign mercenaries descended on Libya, adding fuel to the flames of the civil war and complicating attempts to end the bloodshed. The North African state has been a haven for hired guns from the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey, and Russia in recent years.

According to recent news, 2,000 Syrian troops, many from the Free Syria Army, have been sent to Libya to join pro-government forces. Some of these reports revealed strong ties between Turkey-backed powers and Islamic extremists, raising concerns about their motivations and potential ideological influence in Libya. These Syrian mercenaries are risking their lives in order to earn an average salary of 2,000 dollars and the possibility of Turkish citizenship. Wagner, a notorious Russian paramilitary force, has been helping General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army according to numerous reports since 2019. The degree to which this group is dominated by the Kremlin and its Libyan policy, or whether it is a more independent corporation primarily controlled by the Wagner company's owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has private deals with General Haftar, has been the subject of much debate. Sudanese and Chadian armed groups have also been sent to Libya.

In the Ukrainian war, mercenaries became omnipresent. Classified operations were carried out by companies such as the Wagner Group, both of which were rejected by the Russian government. Mercenaries were also employed by Ukrainian oligarchs, but not for the sake of the region. In order to secure his financial interests, billionaire Igor Kolomoisky hiredprivate combatants to seize the headquarters of the energy firm UkrTransNafta. Sultan-in-Chief Erdoğan infamously sent thousands of Syrian armed fighters aligned with Turkey to the contested enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. These mercenaries proved vital in turning the war in Azerbaijan’s favor. Many war crimes against Armenians were perpetrated by Azerbaijan and Turkey, who were supported by Syrian jihadist groups. Civilians were killed, journalists were wounded, and churches were set ablaze. Armenians were tortured and beheaded, and prisoners were executed.

Mercenaries have returned, with little standing in their way.

It is a losing plan to try and annihilate them. Individuals are being killed, but the mercenary business dynamics continues to flourish. Trying to kill your way out of this dilemma is like a mercenary version of Whac-A-Mole. Some methods, unfortunately, are similarly troublesome. Since mercenaries can kill law enforcement officers, the demand for power cannot be controlled. International public law is rudimentary and complicated to apply. Protection can become a good investment as the economy grows, feeding the market in a self-feeding cycle. In an increasingly unstable environment, new customers will seek stability, and new mercenaries will emerge to satisfy the need. Future dispute markets are likely to emerge in the normal global hotspots. However, exporting a conflict-related market to the world's most conflict-prone regions is problematic because it exacerbates war and suffering.