Strongest militias and armed groups: 2026 ranking

What does the armed groups index measure?

This section ranks fifteen militias, rival armies, insurgencies and one foreign mercenary force on their own scale, apart from states. None of them has a navy, and only the two rival Libyan camps own combat aircraft, most of them old and rarely flown.

Each group is judged on its firepower, its cohesion, the outside help it gets, its combat experience and its professionalism, meaning how much of the force is trained and full time. No group publishes honest figures, and many of the numbers come from its enemies. Every headcount here is an estimate, and enemy figures are named as such. The Syrian Democratic Forces are not ranked: they dissolved into the Syrian army in August 2026.

Which armed group is the strongest in the world?

The Houthis. They have hit Israel repeatedly since 2024 and in October 2026 were still getting missiles through Saudi air defences that are short of interceptors. One strike on Riyadh's main airport on 10 October killed 12 or 13 people and wounded more than 300. They also survived Israel killing their prime minister and several ministers in August 2025.

M23 comes next. It fights as a conventional army, holds Goma and Bukavu in eastern Congo and has beaten Congolese and Burundian troops repeatedly. Much of its heavy weaponry comes through Rwanda, which has an estimated 14,000 to 18,000 troops in eastern Congo and denies it. Russia's Africa Corps is close behind, well armed by Sahel standards but only 2,000 to 2,500 strong in Mali after it pulled out of the north in April.

Hezbollah follows, still ahead of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces. At the bottom sit Hamas, which lost three successive military chiefs in about a year, and the Amhara Fano militias in Ethiopia.

How much of a militia is professional?

Usually a small part. The Houthis' headline strength runs as high as 350,000 on an unverified 2024 estimate, yet the committed core is put at about 20,000. The Rapid Support Forces have perhaps 100,000 fighters, of whom an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 are trained regulars, with tribal levies making up the rest. The Popular Mobilization Forces carry 200,000 to 238,000 people on Iraq's payroll, but the hardline factions aligned with Iran that do most of the fighting number an estimated 21,000 to 30,000.

Hezbollah sits at the other end. Silent Dossier estimates 25,000 to 40,000 full time fighters in named units, out of a total of 40,000 to 90,000.

Can a militia beat a regular army?

In some ways, yes. Cheap long range weapons let a group hurt a state it could never face in open battle. The Houthis assemble small attack drones for about $1,500 each. On the ground, JNIM and Tuareg rebels drove Malian and Russian troops out of Kidal in April 2026 and killed Mali's defence minister with a car bomb. Al-Shabaab got within about 10 km of Mogadishu in 2025.

Where armed groups lose is in the air. The Tigray Defense Forces, with an estimated 200,000 to 270,000 fighters, lost Mekelle and their main towns within three weeks of their own offensive as federal drones and armour moved in. Fano has seized towns several times and been driven out by drone strikes and counterattacks. Israel pushed Hezbollah out of Bint Jbeil and crossed the Litani. Leaders are the other weak point. Hamas and Hezbollah have lost commander after commander to Israeli strikes.

How did the 2026 Iran war change Iran's network?

It shifted the network's weight from Lebanon to Yemen. US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February and a ceasefire followed in early April. Hezbollah opened fire on 2 March and came out weaker. Israeli estimates put its rockets at 8,000 to 15,000, down from about 25,000 at the start of the year, and Israeli troops now hold ground beyond the Litani. Iran is still sending money for rearmament, but the land route through Syria closed when Assad fell in December 2024.

The Houthis waited four weeks before firing at Israel on 28 March, stopped after the US and Iran signed a memorandum in June, then turned their missiles on Saudi Arabia from July. They lean less on Iran, assembling missiles and drones locally with Chinese commercial parts. In Iraq, the factions aligned with Iran launched hundreds of attacks on US sites and absorbed about 145 strikes. They are now split: five reportedly agreed to put their arms under state control, while Kataib Hezbollah and Nujaba refuse.