Low-intensity conflict
Specialist units can be used profitably, including commando squads, long range reconnaissance, "hunter-killer" patrols, defectors who can track or persuade their former colleagues like the Kit Carson units in Vietnam, and paramilitary style groups. Strict control must be kept over specialist units to prevent the emergence of violent vigilante-style reprisal squads that undermine the government's program. Mass forces include village self-defence groups and citizen militias organized for local defence and security.
Foreign assistance must be limited and carefully used. Such aid should be limited to material and technical support and small cadres of specialists. Unless that is done, the foreign helper may find itself "taking over" the local war and being sucked into a lengthy commitment, thus providing the guerrillas with valuable propaganda opportunities. Such a scenario occurred with the United States in Vietnam.

Low-intensity operations: Low-intensity operations consist of the deployment and use of soldiers in situations other than war. For states, these operations are usually conducted against non-state actors and are given terms like counter-insurgency, anti-subversion, and peacekeeping. Violent non-state actors often conduct low-intensity operations against states, often in insurgencies.

See also: Divide and rule
Fourth-generation warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Grey-zone (international relations)
Irregular warfare
Military operations other than war
New Wars
Political warfare
Reagan Doctrine
Violent non-state actor

References: 

Further reading: Asprey, Robert. War in the Shadows, ISBN 0-595-22593-4
British Army (ed.). Land Operations, Volume III, Counter Revolutionary Operations, 1969.
Buffaloe, David. Conventional Forces in Low-Intensity Conflict: The 82nd Airborne at Firebase Shkin, Afghanistan [1], October 2004.
Hammes, Thomas X.. The Sling and the Stone, Zenith Press, 2004. ISBN 0-7603-2059-4
Mikulaschek, Christoph, Saurabh Pant, and Beza Tesfaye. 2020. "Winning Hearts and Minds in a Civil War: Governance, Leadership Change, and Support for Violent Groups in Iraq", American Journal of Political Science. doi:10.1111/ajps.12527.
van Creveld, Martin. The Transformation of War. The Free Press, 1991. ISBN 0-02-933155-2

External links: A wide-ranging gathering of Special Operations / Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC) related topics