Dr Muhanad Seloom is an Assistant Professor of Security and Intelligence Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and researcher at the Strategic Studies Unit in the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS). He is the author of Labelling and Its Discontents: The Role of the ‘Terrorist’ Designation in Ethno-Nationalist Conflicts (forthcoming Routledge 2024) and co-editor with Professor Omar Ashour of Militias to Armies: Combat Adaptations and Military Transformations of Armed Non-state Actors (forthcoming, Edinburgh University Press 2024). His research focuses on state and non-state armed actors, national security, and intelligence studies. He is currently working on a research project titled, “Covert Currents of the Cradle: A History of Iraq's Intelligence” which is under review by Cambridge University Press (Intelligence and National Security in Africa and the Middle East Series).