List of rebel groups that control territory

This is a list of active rebel groups that control territory around the world whose domains may be subnational, transnational, or international. A "rebel group" is defined here as a polity that uses armed conflict in opposition to established government (or governments) for reasons such as to seek political change or to establish, maintain, or to gain independence. Groups that "control territory" are defined as any group that hold any populated or inhabited town, city, village, or defined area that is under the direct administration or military control of the group. Such control may be contested and might be temporary or fluctuating, especially under the circumstance of conflict.

It does not include the governments of stable breakaway states or other states with limited recognition.

List of groups that control territory[]

Within state	Rebel group	Conflict	Control since	Territory controlled	Notes	Leader	Headquarters
Mali  Somalia  Yemen	Al-Qaeda	Mali War Somali Civil War Yemeni Civil War	2006	Parts of central and northern Mali[1] Parts of southern and eastern Somalia[2] Parts of Hadhramaut Governorate and Abyan Governorate[3]		Ayman al-Zawahiri	Tinzaouaten (Mali)[4] Jilib (Somalia)[5]
Afghanistan	Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan	War in Afghanistan	1994 (full control since 2021)	De facto government of Afghanistan[6]	Taliban-controlled territory is also shared with Uzbek Islamists	Hibatullah Akhundzada	Kabul
Afghanistan  Nigeria  Somalia	The Islamic State	War in Afghanistan Boko Haram insurgency Somali Civil War	2013	Limited territorial control in Afghanistan near Pakistan border Dozens of villages in the Lake Chad area[7][8] Several villages in Bari region[9]	Designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations[10]	Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi	Unknown
Afghanistan	Second Resistance	War in Afghanistan	2021	Most of Panjshir Province	Holdouts from Islamic Republic of Afghanistan	Amrullah Saleh	Bazarak
Cameroon	Ambazonia – (Red Dragon)	Anglophone Crisis	2019	Several villages in Lebialem department of Southwest Province in Cameroon[11]	Ambazonia declared independence on 1 October 2017, the Red Dragon militia controlling parts of Lebialem is nominally loyal to the Interim Government of Ambazonia	Lekeaka Oliver	Unknown
Central African Republic	Coalition of Patriots for Change[12][13]	Central African Republic Civil War	2020	Parts of Central African Republic[12]	Coalition of multiple groups,[13] including anti-balaka,[12] 3R and MPC	François Bozizé (alleged)[12][13]	Koumra, Chad (allegedly)[14]
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Mai-Mai	Kivu conflict	2015	Parts of north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo[15]	Various groups	Various leaders	Depending on group
	Nduma Defense of Congo-Renouveau			Large parts of North Kivu province[16]		Shimiray Mwissa Guidon	Pinga
Ethiopia	Tigray People's Liberation Front	Tigray War	2020	Tigray Region (excluding Western Tigray) and parts of Afar Region and Amhara region.[17]	Regional government until 2020	Debretsion Gebremichael	Mekelle
	Oromo Liberation Front	Oromo conflict	1973	Western Parts of Oromia and south east parts of Amhara Region.[18][19]		Dawud Ibsa Ayana	Addis Ababa
Mali	Azawad	Mali War	2012	Parts of northern Mali[20]		Bilal Ag Acherif	Kidal[21]
Mexico	Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities	Chiapas conflict	1994	Parts of northern Chiapas[22]	Established various de facto autonomous socialist regions	Multiple leaders	Oventik[23]
Mozambique	Ansar al-Sunna	Insurgency in Cabo Delgado	2020	Parts of Cabo Delgado Province[24]	Considered to be part of ISIS by some, but disputed by others[24][25][26]	Unknown	Mocímboa da Praia[24][25][26]
Myanmar	Kachin Independence Army	Kachin conflict	2011	Parts of Kachin State in northern Myanmar[27]	Military wing of Kachin Independence Organisation	N'Ban La	Laiza
	National Democratic Alliance Army	Internal conflict in Myanmar	1989	Mongla Area of Shan State (Shan Special Region 4)[28][29]	In control of the area since 2011 ceasefire with Burmese government	Sai Leun[29]	Mong La Township[28][29]
	United Wa State Army	Internal conflict in Myanmar	1989	Wa State, northeastern Myanmar; de-jure Wa Self-Administered Division (Wa Special Region 2)[28][30]	Military wing of the United Wa State Party	Bao Youxiang	Pangkham[31]
Sudan	Sudan Revolutionary Front	Sudan–SRF conflict	2011	Parts of South Kordofan state and Blue Nile state[32]		Abdelaziz al-Hilu	Kauda[33]
Syria	Hayat Tahrir al-Sham	Syrian Civil War	2017	Large portion of Idlib Governorate in North West Syria[34]	Faction within the Syrian Civil War that is in opposition to the Syrian government	Abu Mohammad al-Julani	Idlib[34]
	Revolutionary Commando Army		2016	Small pocket in the Syrian Desert adjacent to the Jordanian border and the Iraqi border[35][36]	Faction within the Syrian Civil War that is in opposition to the Syrian government and in alignment with the United States		Al-Tanf[36]
	Rojava		2011	Territories in the north and east of Syria, mostly over the Euphrates River	Faction within the Syrian Civil War that is allied to the Syrian government and opposed by Turkey	Îlham Ehmed, Mansur Selum	Qamishli
	Syrian National Army		2017	Border areas of Northern Syria[37]	Faction within the Syrian Civil War that is in opposition to the Syrian government and in alignment with Turkey	Anas al-Abdah	Azaz[38]
Ukraine	Donetsk People's Republic	War in Donbass	2014	Parts of the Donetsk region in Eastern Ukraine[39]	Declared independence on 7 April 2014; recognition of this group as an independent state has been granted by the partially-recognised state of South Ossetia[40]	Denis Pushilin	Donetsk
	Luhansk People's Republic			Parts of the Luhansk region in Eastern Ukraine[39]	Declared independence on 12 May 2014; recognition of this group as an independent state has been granted by the partially-recognised state of South Ossetia[41]	Leonid Pasechnik	Luhansk
Yemen	Southern Movement	Yemeni Civil War	2017	Some of the territory in South Yemen[42][43][44]	Organized in response to various grievances of southern Yemenis. It maintains a tenuous peace with the Yemen government.	Aidarus al-Zoubaidi	Aden
	Houthi movement		2004	Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, consisting of most of former North Yemen, including the capital Sana'a, and some minor parts of South Yemen	The Houthi movement controls the capital of Yemen[45] through the administration of the Supreme Political Council,[46] which is largely unrecognized by the international community as the legitimate government of Yemen	Mahdi al-Mashat	Sa'dah

See also[]

• List of active rebel groups
• List of guerrilla movements
• List of designated terrorist groups
• List of ongoing armed conflicts
• Lists of active separatist movements
• Violent non-state actor
• Compare to Sovereign state

References[]