More than two decades ago, the Middle East ushered in the era of private military companies (PMCs) and the return of mercenaries. Since the United States – during the invasion of Iraq – opened the proverbial Pandora’s Box of privatising what was once a state monopoly on violence, there has been abundant coverage of the activities of armed contractors and mercenaries from Libya to Ukraine. In the past decade, private military contractors and mercenary outfits have proliferated, from conflicts in the Middle East to those in its neighbouring regions. The Russian Wagner group in Africa, Syrian mercenaries in the Nagorno-Karabakh...