AES states & allied forces · State military
Malian Defence and Security Forces (FDS)
The state military establishment — army, air force, national guard and gendarmerie — under the transitional military government.
Joint
Coverage · Central Sahel
Context, not targeting. This atlas describes structure and history. It deliberately excludes current locations, live strength, unit movements and anything operationally sensitive — the content model has no fields for them. Branch depth reflects what can be established from public sources, not the size, capability or importance of a force: a thin branch means a state publishes little, and record counts are never a measure of strength.
More filters
50 reviewed profiles of 54 records
12 full, 38 under review. 4 further records are structural stubs. Confidence, subordination and sources are inside each record.
AES states & allied forces · Branch
Malian Army (Armée de Terre)
The land force — the bulk of the FDS, carrying the war in every region.
Land · under Malian Defence and Security Forces (FDS)
AES states & allied forces · Branch
Malian Air Force (Armée de l’Air)
A small but consequential air arm — the drone and strike capability that changed the northern war in 2023.
Air · under Malian Defence and Security Forces (FDS)
AES states & allied forces · Grouping · not a command
Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDP)
Burkina Faso’s state-armed civilian auxiliary force — created by law in 2020, central to the government’s “total war” since 2022, and the subject of a documented record of abuses against Fulani communities.
Volunteer / irregular · under Burkina Faso Armed Forces
External security partners · PMC lineage
Wagner Group — Mali deployment history
The Wagner Group’s Mali deployment, 2021–2025 — the junta’s first Russian partner, reorganised into the Africa Corps.
Volunteer / irregular · under Russian security presence in the Sahel
External security partners · External
Africa Corps — Mali role
The Russian defence ministry’s expeditionary force in Mali — successor to the Wagner deployment since June 2025, fighting alongside the FDS.
Volunteer / irregular · under Russian security presence in the Sahel
Azawad movements · Armed movement
Azawad Liberation Front (FLA)
The unified Azawad separatist movement formed in November 2024 from the CMA’s components; holder of Kidal since April 2026.
Volunteer / irregular · under Azawad movements — coordination & lineage
JNIM & lineage · Armed movement
JNIM — Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims
The al-Qaeda-aligned insurgent coalition formed in 2017 under Iyad Ag Ghaly — the strongest non-state force in the war.
Volunteer / irregular
JNIM & lineage · Katiba
Katiba Macina
JNIM’s central-Mali wing under Amadou Koufa — the engine of the insurgency’s spread into the centre, west and south.
Volunteer / irregular · under JNIM — Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims
Islamic State Sahel · Armed movement
Islamic State Sahel Province
The Islamic State’s Sahel province — a separate project from JNIM and at war with it; strongest in the tri-border zone.
Volunteer / irregular
Regional & international (historical) · External
Operation Barkhane
France’s Sahel-wide counterterrorism operation, 2014–2022 — left Mali in August 2022 and ended that November.
Joint · under International & regional missions (historical)
Regional & international (historical) · External
MINUSMA
The UN stabilisation mission in Mali, 2013–2023 — the organisation’s deadliest of its era, expelled at Bamako’s demand.
Joint · under International & regional missions (historical)
AES states & allied forces · Military district
Military regions (régions militaires)
The territorial layer of the Malian army — numbered military regions seated at the garrison towns that have been the war's fixed points, Gao and Timbuktu and Sévaré among them, and the structure through which the isolated garrisons of the north and centre are commanded; their count and numbering are not consistently published, and this record stands for the class.
Land · under Malian Army (Armée de Terre)
AES states & allied forces · Battalion
Rapid intervention battalions (BIR)
The army's vehicle-borne intervention battalions — the formations expanded after 2021 that carry most offensive operations, typically alongside Russian personnel, and the units that relieved Anéfis in July 2026 and withdrew from the north in April; their number is not published and this record stands for the class.
Land · under Malian Army (Armée de Terre)
AES states & allied forces · Branch
National Guard of Mali
Territorial and camel-corps force with a defence-ministry mandate — historically the state’s presence in the deep north.
Interior / security · under Malian Defence and Security Forces (FDS)
AES states & allied forces · Interior forces
National Gendarmerie of Mali
Military police force with rural policing and territorial duties under the defence ministry. Its posts are often the state's only armed presence outside the garrison towns — which makes them both the face of state authority in the countryside and among the insurgency's most frequently attacked targets.
Interior / security · under Malian Defence and Security Forces (FDS)
AES states & allied forces · State military
Burkina Faso Armed Forces
The national armed forces of Burkina Faso — the institution that has produced two coups and governs through the second, fighting an insurgency across most of the country with a mass civilian auxiliary alongside it.
Joint
AES states & allied forces · Branch
Burkina Faso Army
The land force — the bulk of an armed forces estimated in the low tens of thousands, organised in military regions the leadership has multiplied since 2022, and rebuilt around rapid-intervention battalions that grew from six to twenty-eight in three years.
Land · under Burkina Faso Armed Forces
AES states & allied forces · Battalion
Rapid intervention battalions (BIR)
The army's mobile counter-insurgency formations — better equipped than the rest of the force, tasked to intervene as fast and as far forward as possible against any threat to the territory, and multiplied from six to twenty-eight battalions between 2022 and 2025 as the government's principal military answer to the insurgency.
Land · under Burkina Faso Army
AES states & allied forces · Branch
Burkina Faso Air Force
A small air arm reorganised since 2022 around armed unmanned aircraft and light attack — the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and, from 2024, the Akinci — that supplies the besieged towns and conducts the strikes whose civilian tolls are the most contested facts in the country's war.
Air · under Burkina Faso Armed Forces
AES states & allied forces · Interior forces
National Gendarmerie of Burkina Faso
The military police force of roughly five thousand under the defence ministry — rural policing, road security and the command of the volunteer auxiliaries in the districts where the nearest state unit is a gendarmerie brigade rather than an army one.
Interior / security · under Burkina Faso Armed Forces
AES states & allied forces · State military
Nigerien Armed Forces
The national armed forces of Niger — the institution that took power in 2023, expelled two Western partners, and in August 2026 fought a mutiny drawn from its own western garrisons.
Joint
AES states & allied forces · Branch
Nigerien Army
The land force — commanded from Niamey through nine defence zones that overlap the civilian regions, carrying the war in the west from garrisons in Tillabéri and Tahoua, and the service from whose western units the mutineers of August 2026 were reportedly drawn.
Land · under Nigerien Armed Forces
AES states & allied forces · Branch
Nigerien Air Force
A small air arm whose principal base — Base 101 at Niamey's airport — hosts the Russian Africa Corps and the confederation's joint command, whose Turkish Bayraktar drones partly replaced the American surveillance-and-strike operation that withdrew in 2024, and whose base the mutineers of August 2026 attacked.
Air · under Nigerien Armed Forces
AES states & allied forces · Interior forces
National Gendarmerie of Niger
The military police force under the defence ministry — rural law enforcement and road security, on the same French pattern as Mali's and Burkina Faso's, and the most exposed state presence in the districts outside the garrison towns.
Interior / security · under Nigerien Armed Forces
AES states & allied forces · Interior forces
National Guard of Niger
The interior ministry's paramilitary corps — territorial security, the guarding of administrative posts and prisons, and the state's presence in the rural districts and the desert north, on the model of Mali's National Guard.
Interior / security · under Nigerien Armed Forces
AES states & allied forces · External
AES Unified Force
The confederation's joint military command — inaugurated in December 2025 with a named commander and a stated strength, and not yet observed operating.
Joint
AES states & allied forces · Militia
Dan Na Ambassagou
Dogon self-defence movement of the Bandiagara plateau — central to the communal dimension of the war, implicated in the Ogossagou massacre.
Volunteer / irregular · under Pro-government movements & communal self-defence forces
AES states & allied forces · Grouping · not a command
Platform coalition (Plateforme)
The pro-government signatory coalition of the Algiers Agreement, formed in June 2014 and coordinating GATIA, loyalist MAA factions and a Songhai self-defence coalition against the CMA; weakened from 2017 as members drifted into the CSP or state alignment, and effectively defunct.
Volunteer / irregular · under Pro-government movements & communal self-defence forces
AES states & allied forces · Armed movement
GATIA — Imghad Tuareg Self-Defence Group and Allies
Imghad Tuareg armed movement founded in 2014 — historically Bamako’s northern proxy against the CMA, later fragmented.
Volunteer / irregular · under Platform coalition (Plateforme)
External security partners · Grouping · not a command
Russian security presence in the Sahel
A navigation grouping, not a command: the Russian deployments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger differ in scale, posture and evidence, and are recorded separately for that reason. What they share since 2025 is an institution — the Ministry of Defence's Africa Corps, successor to the Wagner deployment — and a sustainment chain that runs through the Russian state.
Volunteer / irregular
External security partners · External
Africa Corps — Burkina Faso role
An instructor-scale Russian presence whose announced expansion collapsed — the smallest and least documented of the three Sahel deployments.
Volunteer / irregular · under Russian security presence in the Sahel
External security partners · External
Africa Corps — Niger role
The Russian presence at Base 101 in Niamey — officially credited by Moscow with helping repel a jihadist assault, and of unresolved role in a mutiny seven months later.
Volunteer / irregular · under Russian security presence in the Sahel
Azawad movements · Grouping · not a command
Azawad movements — coordination & lineage
A navigation grouping, not a command: the separatist and allied movements of northern Mali, from the 2012 rebellion through the CMA and CSP coalitions to the unified FLA of 2024 — one lineage with several coalition names, plus the Ménaka movement that took a different path. Lineage relationships are stated on each record.
Volunteer / irregular
Azawad movements · Grouping · not a command
CSP — Permanent Strategic Framework
Coordination framework joining the CMA movements with parts of the Platform, 2021–2024 — the war-fighting coalition that lost Kidal and won Tinzaouatène.
Volunteer / irregular · under Azawad movements — coordination & lineage
Azawad movements · Grouping · not a command
CMA — Coordination of Azawad Movements
The separatist signatory coalition of the 2015 Algiers Agreement, which governed Kidal de facto for a decade; dissolved into the FLA in 2024.
Volunteer / irregular · under Azawad movements — coordination & lineage
Azawad movements · Armed movement
MNLA — National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad
The secular-nationalist separatist movement that launched the 2012 rebellion and declared Azawad — then lost it to its jihadist allies.
Volunteer / irregular · under CMA — Coordination of Azawad Movements
Azawad movements · Armed movement
HCUA — High Council for the Unity of Azawad
Ifoghas-led movement formed in May 2013, drawing heavily on former Ansar Dine members repositioning for the peace process; the strongest CMA component in Kidal, and the movement whose leader now heads the FLA.
Volunteer / irregular · under CMA — Coordination of Azawad Movements
Azawad movements · Armed movement
MAA — Arab Movement of Azawad
Arab-community movement formed in April 2012 that split in 2014 into CMA-aligned and Platform-aligned wings — a reminder that “Azawad” was never a single community or side. The CMA-aligned wing joined the FLA in 2024; the loyalist wing fought for the government in the Gao region.
Volunteer / irregular · under CMA — Coordination of Azawad Movements
Azawad movements · Armed movement
MSA — Movement for the Salvation of Azawad
Daoussahak-based movement of the Ménaka region, split from the MNLA in September 2016; best known for fighting Islamic State Sahel in the tri-border zone beside state and French forces, and the one Azawad-lineage movement whose relationship to the 2024 FLA is not established.
Volunteer / irregular · under Azawad movements — coordination & lineage
JNIM & lineage · Armed movement
Ansar Dine
Iyad Ag Ghaly’s movement of the 2012 war — jihadist co-belligerent of the MNLA rebellion, then its expeller; merged into JNIM in 2017.
Volunteer / irregular · under JNIM — Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims
JNIM & lineage · Armed movement
AQIM Saharan emirate
The Saharan command of al-Qaeda’s Maghreb affiliate — kidnap economy, desert logistics and the doctrinal core that trained the 2012 generation and held Timbuktu during the occupation; its emirs were killed by French forces in 2013 and 2019, and the command folded into JNIM in March 2017.
Volunteer / irregular · under JNIM — Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims
JNIM & lineage · Armed movement
Al-Mourabitoun
Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s formation, created in August 2013 by merging his katiba with MUJAO; author of the era’s major urban terror attacks (Bamako 2015, Ouagadougou 2016) and the organisation the 2015 split to Islamic State ran through, before it folded into JNIM in March 2017.
Volunteer / irregular · under JNIM — Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims
JNIM & lineage · Katiba
Ansarul Islam
The Burkinabè-origin jihadist movement that emerged in 2016 and was absorbed into JNIM — the vehicle through which the coalition became a Burkinabè and Nigerien organisation as well as a Malian one.
Volunteer / irregular · under JNIM — Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims
JNIM & lineage · Armed movement
MUJAO — Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa
AQIM offshoot that ruled Gao during the 2012 occupation; both of today’s rival jihadist lineages trace through its remnants.
Volunteer / irregular
Regional & international (historical) · Grouping · not a command
International & regional missions (historical)
A navigation grouping, not a command: the French, UN, European and regional forces of the intervention era, 2013–2024 — Serval and Barkhane, MINUSMA, Takuba, EUTM Mali and the G5 Sahel joint force. Each ran under its own mandate and institution, and each has ended or withdrawn from Mali; the grouping exists so the sequence of departures can be read as one story.
Joint
Regional & international (historical) · External
Operation Serval
The French intervention launched on 11 January 2013 that broke the jihadist occupation of northern Mali in weeks, then fought the Adrar des Ifoghas campaign against AQIM; folded into the Sahel-wide Barkhane on 1 August 2014.
Joint · under International & regional missions (historical)
Regional & international (historical) · External
Task Force Takuba
The European special-operations task force established in March 2020 under French command within Barkhane to advise, assist and accompany Malian units in the Liptako; it reached initial capability in July 2020, drew on a dozen European contributors, and ended on 30 June 2022 with the French withdrawal from Mali.
Special operations · under International & regional missions (historical)
Regional & international (historical) · External
EUTM Mali
The EU's non-combat military training mission, launched on 18 February 2013 to rebuild the Malian army through advice, education and training; its operational training was suspended in 2022 after the Wagner deployment, and the member states let the mandate lapse on 18 May 2024.
Joint · under International & regional missions (historical)
Regional & international (historical) · External
G5 Sahel Joint Force
The joint counterterrorism force of the five Sahel states, created in 2017 with French backing and Security Council support but never the funding it needed. Mali quit in May 2022; Burkina Faso and Niger followed in December 2023 and the remaining members dissolved the framework days later — succeeded in practice by AES defence cooperation.
Joint · under International & regional missions (historical)
AES states & allied forces · Special unit
Autonomous Special Forces Battalion (BAFS)
Mali's special-forces battalion, created by decree on 16 May 2018 with its own commando-training centres and recruited across the services — the state's one special-operations formation, tasked on paper with special operations, counterterrorism, intelligence and the protection of state figures, and whose role in the 2020 and 2021 coups and the 2023–2026 campaigns is reported rather than documented.
Special operations · under Malian Army (Armée de Terre)
AES states & allied forces · Grouping · not a command
Pro-government movements & communal self-defence forces
A navigation grouping, not a command: armed movements and communal self-defence forces that have fought alongside or in parallel with the state. Each member’s real relationship to the government differs and is stated on its record — a historical northern coalition beside communal militias that published research describes as a fragmented ensemble rather than an actor.
Volunteer / irregular
AES states & allied forces · Militia
Dozo (Donso) hunter militias
Traditional hunter societies mobilised as village self-defence forces across central and southern Mali from 2015 as Katiba Macina's insurgency spread — locally organised, without unified command, armed and at times funded by the state and at other times raided by it; a class of groups rather than an organisation, which is why this record has no profile.
Volunteer / irregular · under Pro-government movements & communal self-defence forces
JNIM & lineage · Katiba
Katiba Serma
JNIM unit operating in the Serma forest zone of the Hayré, between the Mopti and Gao regions — one of the named katibas behind the RN16 corridor attacks and the 2024 blockade of Boni; described in reporting as a semi-autonomous subgroup of Katiba Macina, a placement this tree records but does not adopt.
Volunteer / irregular · under JNIM — Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims
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