6-717: The Libyan Revolutionary Guard Corps ( Liwa Haris al-Jamahiriya ), also known as the Jamahiriyyah Guard, was a paramilitary elite unit that played the role of key protection force of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi , until his death in October 2011. Composed of 3,000 men hand-picked from Gaddafi's tribal group in the Sirte region, the Guard was well armed, being provided with T-54 and T-62 tanks, APCs , MRLs , SA-8 SAMs and ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft guns taken from
12-691: A military , it is usually equivalent to a light infantry or special forces in terms of strength, firepower, and organizational structure. Paramilitaries use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as internal security / SWAT vehicles ), or even actual military equipment (such as long guns and armored personnel carriers ; usually military surplus resources), skills (such as battlefield medicine and bomb disposal ), and tactics (such as urban warfare and close-quarters combat ) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement , coast guard , or search and rescue . A paramilitary may fall under
18-737: The army inventory. As of 2005, its commander was Hasan al-Kabir al-Gaddafi , a cousin of the former Libyan leader. The Revolutionary Guard developed from the Revolutionary Committees , even if the latter had at first been introduced only into workplaces and communities, and not extended to the Armed Forces . After the early 1980s, however, the Revolutionary Guard, as a paramilitary wing of the Revolutionary Committees, became entrenched within
24-441: The command of a military , train alongside them, or have permission to use their resources, despite not actually being part of them. Under the law of war , a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency (such as a law enforcement agency or a private volunteer militia ) into its combatant armed forces. Some countries' constitutions prohibit paramilitary organizations outside government use . Depending on
30-452: The military. They served as a parallel channel of control, a means of ideological indoctrination in the barracks, and an apparatus for monitoring suspicious behavior. The Revolutionary Guards reportedly held the keys to ammunition stockpiles at the main military bases, doling it out in small quantities as needed by the regular forces. Their influence increased after a coup attempt in May 1985, which
36-472: Was blocked mainly thanks to the action of the Revolutionary Guard that engaged regular Army units in a series of street battles in Tripoli . Paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Though a paramilitary is, by definition, not
#191808