Tishreen Movement

So of course, guardian protector of the state, Al-Hares, refers to, um, the military performance, the battlefield performance of the PMF in the war against ISIS.

But also it refers to how they used to see themselves as a protector of the state when they turned against Tishreen protesters.

Mm.

Yeah, that's interesting.

It was, uh, it was in 2019 or 2018, and I was asking him back then all of these questions about state integration and where he sees like the PMF fitting, and I remember very clearly how he told me that the end is not Hashd al-Shaabi, it's not the government mobilizing, it's the people's mobilization.

Mm.

So in a way, the paradox, even for their own constituencies, was that at some point, the practice of being a guardian of the state or a guardian of the system became more important to them when they had to evaluate, "How do we position ourselves during the Tishreen protest movement?" And in a way, they spent so much time and effort of trying to convince themselves, their audiences, but also external observers that we are a state actor.

But in a way, the fact that they were seen by a lot of their initial supporters as an actor affiliated with corrupt state elites is what, in a way, um, cast a shadow over this popular street legitimacy charisma.