Belonging To or Recognized As A State at War and Protected by and Subject To The Laws of War
Belonging To or Recognized As A State at War and Protected by and Subject To The Laws of War
Over the centuries the practitioners of guerrilla warfare have been called rebels, irregulars,
insurgents, partisans, and mercenaries.
The stew of animosities was further seasoned by ethnic and religious rivalries, a factor that
helps to explain why guerrilla warfare continues to be fought in a large number of countries
today. In some instances it has assumed a universal character under the banner of religious
fundamentalism. The most prominent practitioners of this type were the Islamist groups al-
Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; also called ISIS).
The fundamental aim of asymmetrical warfare is to find a way round the adversary’s military
strength by discovering and exploiting, in the extreme, its weaknesses. Weaker parties have
realized that, particularly in modern societies, to strike “soft targets” causes the greatest
damage. Consequently, civilian targets frequently replace military ones.