armed wing
Military fighting force
An armed wing is the military branch of a political organization, particularly one that officially maintains a separation between political and violent activities.
The term appears most often with groups engaged in insurgency or terrorism: Hamas's armed wing claimed responsibility for the attack.
The "wing" framing allows the parent organization to pursue diplomacy or governance while retaining militant capability—a distinction critics often dismiss as purely rhetorical.
- militiaNon-professional armed force
- paramilitaryUnofficial armed organization
- paramilitary groupArmed non-governmental fighting force
- guerrillaIrregular armed fighter
- guerrilla warfareIrregular combat using ambushes
insurgent · rebel · rebel faction · faction · resistance · brigade · militant · combatant · fighter · operative · cell · splinter · liberation · liberation front · freedom fighter · underground · underground movement · secret army
- armed groupsmilitia, guerrillas, insurgents, paramilitary, militias
- Militiascitizen militia, colonial militia, colonial militias, territorial defense, citizen army
- ANCNelson Mandela, MK, Freedom Charter, Robben Island, Winnie Mandela
- Revolutionary MovementsMaoism, guerrilla warfare, class struggle, manifesto, Red Army