National Guard (Arab Union)

The National Guard (Arabic: الحرس الوطني al-ḥaras al-waṭanī) are a paramilitary institution under the direct control of the President of the Arab Union. Established in 1960 as an umbrella command of the nation's numerous citizen militias, the modern National Guard has taken on the role of auxiliary, irregular, counterterrorism and special forces in addition to the original and primary role as a home guard, today forming a major component of the Arab Union's national security apparatus alongside the military and police. It also serves a political role—by answering directly to the president, the National Guard bypasses the executive bureaucracy in control of the regular military and police against which it thus forms a counterbalance, a parallel hierarchy whose loyalty to the head of state is independent of the complex and frequently shifting politics of officers and senior politicians. The resultant stabilising effect is further strengthened by the force's composition entirely of local volunteers who, with the exception of senior officers, each serve part-time as a member of their own community's garrison.

As most volunteers are former military personnel (many of whom have extensive combat experience), National Guard troops are often better-trained and more effective than equivalent infantry units of the Arab Army. All guardsmen are assigned to a particular garrison (typically the one closest to their home), each of which is responsible for the defence of all communities within its military district. Guardsmen—most of whom maintain full-time employment in the community—report to their garrison at least once a week for basic training, in which they participate as cadets, junior trainees, senior trainees, training assistants, special instructors or training leaders, depending on time in the National Guard and/or previous experience. In the event of armed conflict (whether an invasion or internal civil violence), all guardsmen of affected communities must immediately report to their garrison, being ready to serve full-time until violence has completely ceased in their district.