Non-State Actors and Proxy Networks.

RAVENLOOK is one layer. SPECTRE collects the rest.

Non-state armed groups do not respect the borders that state militaries do. Hezbollah operates across Lebanon and Syria. The Houthis coordinate with the IRGC. Wagner shows up in Libya, Mali, Sudan, and Venezuela. ISIS operates cells from West Africa to Afghanistan. Mapping them requires a different data model than country-level force tracking.

SPECTRE is that overlay. Every major non-state actor gets a group profile, a leadership profile where personalities matter, a sponsor relationship, a geographic footprint, and a running record of documented operations. Then SPECTRE cross-references the group against the country-level RAVENLOOK datasets so proxy relationships become visible in one view.

Non-State Actor Registry

The Iran Proxy Ring

The four highest-profile Iran-sponsored groups sit at the center of the current Middle East security picture. Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hamas in Gaza. The Houthis in Yemen. The Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq. Each with distinct capabilities, distinct funding streams, distinct command structures, and distinct relationships with Tehran.

MERIDIAN tracks each proxy independently but cross-references them against the IRGC-Quds Force network in the Iran dataset. Where a proxy operation traces back to IRGC training, IRGC supply, or IRGC command, the linkage is annotated on the map.

The Russian PMC Network

Wagner Group operated as Russia's deniable expeditionary force from Syria in 2015 through Ukraine in 2022. After the June 2023 mutiny and Prigozhin's death, the network was formally rebranded as Africa Corps under Ministry of Defence control. MERIDIAN tracks the reconstituted network across Libya, Mali, Central African Republic, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela.

ISIS and Al-Qaeda Franchises

Both organizations operate as franchises. Local affiliates carry the brand and share operational doctrine but function under regional leaders. MERIDIAN tracks the major nodes: ISIS-Khorasan in Afghanistan and Central Asia, ISIS-West Africa Province in the Sahel, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin in the Sahel.

Related Analysis

See MERIDIAN Briefs for the running record of individual operations by these groups, and Threat Record for the historical incident database that includes 3,500+ tracked armed groups going back to 1970.