FORUM : UNSC

ISSUE : On Combating the Rise of Non-State Actors posing a Terrorist Threat

STUDENT OFFICER : Sondos Ashraf Moussa
POSITION : CHAIR

What are Non-State Actors?

Non-State Actors are any person or entity that has signicant political inuence
and participates or acts in international relations. They have sucient power to
inuence and cause a change even though they do not belong to any established
institution of a state.
Other than having characteristics such as having power and the ability to
inuence, non-state actors have a base or headquarter in a certain state but
their activities will not only be operating in the state itself but will also be
operating beyond the borders of the state.

Types of Non-State Actors

1. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
2. Multinational corporations (MNCs)
3. The International Media
4. Violent non-state actors
5. Religious Groups
6. Transnational diaspora communities

Violent Non-State Actors

Violent non-state actors (VNSA), such as terrorist organizations, play an increasingly important role in the international security environment.
They resort not only to random or opportunistic aggression, but to collective
violence as a tool to achieve goals.
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List of Violent Non-State Actors

1. Al Qaeda
2. Hamas
3. Hezbollah
4. Mujahedeen
5. Taliban
6. ISIS

Background on Terrorist Attacks and Threats

in Countries

5.1

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is a global militant Islamist organization founded by Osama bin

Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and several others, at some point between August
1988 and late 1989, with origins traceable to the Arab volunteers who fought
against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and
an Islamist, extremist, Wahhabi jihadist group.
Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks and threats on civilians and military targets
in various countries. Some of the major attacks are:
1. On December 29, 1992, the rst attack by Al-Qaeda was carried out in
Aden, Yemen known as the 1992 Yemen Hotel Bombings.
2. In August 1998, Al-Qaeda operatives carried out the bombings of the U.S.
embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing more
than 200 people and injuring more than 5,000 others.
3. On September 11, 2001, four commercial airliners were hijacked. Two
of these were crashed into the Twin Towers which later collapsed, destroying the rest of the World Trade Centre building complex. The third
was crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth in a eld during a struggle between passengers and hijackers to control the airplane. Altogether,
2,977 victims, including 2,504 civilians, 72 law enforcement ocers, 343
reghters, and 55 military personnel, perished in the attacks.
4. The April 11, 2002 Ghriba synagogue bombing occurred when a natural
gas truck tted with explosives drove past security barriers at the ancient
Ghriba Synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba, killing 14 German
tourists, three Tunisians, and two French nationals.

5. The 2002 Bali bombings, occurred on 12 October 2002, the 2002 Mombasa
attacks, occurred on 28 November 2002 in Kenya, the 2003 Casablanca
bombings, occurred on May 16, the 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing in
Jakarta, Indonesia, the 2003 Istanbul bombings, the bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan, on June 2, 2008, bombing of the Marriott Hotel
in Pakistan on September 20, 2008, were all Al-Qaeda's doing.
6. The Imam Ali Mosque bombing, the 2004 Irbil bombings, 21 April 2004
Basra bombings, the 14 September 2005 Baghdad bombings, the 23 November 2006 Sadr City bombings, the 3 February 2007 Baghdad market bombing and many others were piloted in Iraq by Al-Qaeda.
5.2

Hamas

Hamas, an acronym for "Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamia" or Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Palestinian Islamic organization, with an associated military wing. It was founded sometime in 1988 soon after the First Intifada broke
out, as an oshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which in its Gaza
branch had been non-confrontational towards Israel, refrained from resistance,
and was hostile to the PLO.
Hamas comprises three interrelated wings  the social welfare and political
wings, which are responsible for the social, administrative, political, and propaganda activities of Hamas, and the military wing, which is engaged in covert
activities, such as acting against suspected collaborators, gathering intelligence
on potential targets, procuring weapons, and carrying out military attacks.
Major attacks conducted by Hamas:
1. April 1994 - Hamas orchestrates its rst suicide bombing. Five are killed
in the Israeli city of Hedera.
2. In 2001  Second Intifada Terror, Hamas terror kills 81 people and injures
872 in attacks throughout Israel.
3. June 12, 2003 - A suicide bomber disguised as an ultra-orthodox Jew
detonates himself on a Jerusalem bus, killing 16 Israelis.
4. December 19, 2008 - Hamas formally ends cease-re with Israel. Attacks
between the two continue the entire time to some degree.
5.3

Hezbollah

Hezbollah is a Shi'a Islamist militant group and political party based in Lebanon.
Its paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council. It was conceived by Muslim clerics
and funded by Iran following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and was
primarily formed to oer resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Some major attacks Hezbollah has been involved in:
1. On April 18, 1983, Hezbollah attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut with a
car bomb, killing 63 people, 17 of whom were American citizens.
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2. Oct. 23, 1983: The group attacks U.S. Marine barracks with a truck
bomb, killing 241 American military personnel stationed in Beirut.
3. May 17, 1999: Hezbollah opens re on northern Israel with dozens of
rockets in one of the group's numerous attacks on Israeli civilians.
4. April 9, 2002: Hezbollah launches Katyushas into northern Israeli town.
5. July 12, 2006: Hezbollah attacks Israel with Katyushas, crosses the border
and kidnaps two Israeli soldiers. Three Israeli soldiers are killed in the
initial attack.
5.4

ISIS

ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is a Sala jihadist extremist militant group
and self-proclaimed Islamic state and caliphate, which is led by and mainly
composed of Sunni Arabs from Iraq and Syria. The group was founded in 1999
and achieved notoriety in the early stages of the Iraqi insurgency for the suicide
attacks on Shia Islamic mosques, civilians, Iraqi government institutions and
Italian soldiers partaking in the US-led 'Multi-National Force'.
1. On 11 May, 2013, two car bombs exploded in the town of Reyhanl in
Hatay Province, Turkey. At least 51 were killed and 140 injured, one of
the biggest terrorist attack on Turkish soil.
2. On 22 July, ISIL organised a mass break-out of its members being held
in Iraq's prison in Taji and Abu Ghraib prison, freeing more than 500
prisoners, many of them veterans of the Iraqi insurgency (200311) or
senior commanders of ISIS.
3. 15 March: The number of internally displaced persons in Anbar province,
especially from Fallujah and Ramadi, reached 300,000. The number of
people recorded killed by this date was 336, with 1,562 more wounded.
4. 6 June: ISIL militants carried out multiple attacks in the city of Mosul,
Iraq.
5. 8 November: Twenty-seven ISIL ghters were poisoned by Syrian rebels
who had inltrated as cooks into the Fath El-Shahel camp; twelve were
killed.[454] Six car bombings killed 40 people and wounded 90 in Baghdad
and Ramadi.
6. 31 January: ISIL claims to have beheaded Japanese hostage journalist
Kenji Goto, the second ISIL execution of a Japanese person.
7. 3 February: ISIL released a video of Jordanian hostage Muath al-Kasasbeh
being burned to death while locked in a cage.
8. 29 September: ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting death of an
Italian aid worker in Dhaka, Bangladesh; if conrmed this would be their
rst attack in Bangladesh.
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COUNTRIES INVOLVED IN THE ISSUE

1.

Al-Qaeda:

Australia, Canada, Egypt, members of European Union, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Philippines, UAE, UK, USA and other members
of UN.

2.

ISIS:

3.

Hamas:

4.

Mujahedeen:

Australia, Canada, Egypt, members of European Union, India, Iran,

Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA and other members
of UN.
Australia, Canada, members of European Union, Israel, UK and
USA. Hezbollah: Australia, Canada, Egypt, members of European Union,
Israel and UK.
USA Taliban: Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, UAE.

Solutions to Combat Terrorist Actions by NonState Actors

Donkey carts laden with rocket-propelled grenades, teenage girls wrapped in

nails and explosives, and civilian airliners lled with fuel and travellersthese
are the weapons found in the arsenal of today's most ubiquitous adversarythe
violent non-state actor (VNSA). With few exceptions, VNSA play a prominent,
often destabilizing role in nearly every humanitarian and political crisis faced
by the international community. As non-state armed groups gain greater access
to resources and networks through global interconnectivity, they have also come
to dominate the terrain of illegal trade in drugs, guns and humans.
Combating VNSA in today's world is hard, but certain measures can be
taken which might eventually result in their complete demolition.
Disruption is one of the roads we can choose to ght VNSA. Disruption
should be done in a complex way  where military action is only part of it.
Attention should be paid to the life cycle of the organization, communication
among parts of it should be hampered, nodes of contact disrupted. Also the environment where the group operates should be transformed to work against it 
inputs should be prevented, transportation of sources hampered, outputs should
be made of no use. In practice it means that, ghters of the VNSA should be selectively attacked, but collateral damage to civilians prevented. The roots which
formed the organization removed and assured that its recruiting capability decreased. The disintegration of VNSA should be supported by negotiation with
parts of the organization, even though that this strategy has its diculties and
can easily backre. Sources (arms, technological equipment) should be secured.
The transformation of inputs (training, smuggling and buying of weapons and
equipment) should be disrupted and combating transnational criminal organizations which made the country one of the bases for VNSA operations should
be made priority.

Another technique that could be employed to counter VNSA could be transformation. Transformation represents an option of government which relies on
co-optation, negotiated settlement, but also deterrence. All of this encourages
VNSA to transform into a non-violent actor. Co-optation has produced many
good results in history of conicts, but usually only temporarily. The roots of
the problem were not solved and soon another VNSA sprung up.
Counter-Terrorist Strategy measures can also be taken to ght VNSA. One
counter-terrorist strategy that can be aective is swarming. Swarming is seemingly amorphous, but it is a deliberately structured, coordinated, strategic way
to strike from all directions, by means of a sustainable pulsing of force and/or
re, close-in as well as from stand-o positions. The essence of swarming is
to attack continuously and on many places which when speaking about VNSA
means to bring down the organizations legitimacy be it by psychological operations, emphasizing national idea or using concession to cut o the organization from popularity. Swarming should contain disrupting VNSA's nancial and
smuggling activities preferably by international cooperation and legislative measures. Also the technological deciency of the victim country when compared to
VNSA's should be tackled. Doctrinal capabilities and thinking of ocers should
be changed to be more convenient with swarming.