Today we will analyze a company that, at a certain period, caused quite a stir in the private military services industry. Its founder's loud statements initiated a long series of investigations that continue to this day. But let's start from the beginning.
Autumn 2015. While public attention was focused on Syria, Iraq, and the rapid growth of ISIS, one of the most controversial projects of the modern PMC era was launched in the shadow of the Yemeni war.
No press releases, public contracts, or corporate presentations. The company was registered in the US, in Delaware, which provided not only a legal shell but also a number of political, financial, and operational advantages.
Spear Operations Group was created not for guarding oil facilities or escorting convoys, but for critical tasks of neutralizing political opponents of the Arab monarchy.
The founder and de facto head of the company was Abraham Golan – an Israeli-born French Legion veteran. Even by PMC industry standards, he was considered a highly controversial figure. One former CIA officer described him as: "He tends to exaggerate, but for the craziest shit, he's exactly the guy you hire to get the job done."
With extensive connections in the Middle East and a reputation for being able to resolve issues in grey areas, Golan arrived in Abu Dhabi in 2015. It was there, on the territory of one of the UAE military bases, that he concluded an agreement to provide services to the Emirati government. Negotiations were held directly with Mohammed Dahlan – a former head of Palestinian security forces in Gaza and at that time an advisor to the Crown Prince of the UAE. The intensity of this situation is also enhanced by the fact that in the past they might have been on opposite sides of the barricades and perceived each other as ideological adversaries, although you wouldn't tell from the photo...
Formally, Spear was hired to fight ISIS and Al-Qaeda. In practice, however, the company was involved in eliminating political opponents of the Arab monarchy in Yemen.
In his interviews, Golan stated directly: "There was a program of targeted assassinations in Yemen. We were involved in it. I led this project. It was sanctioned by the UAE as part of the coalition."
Golan and the entire staff of the company were integrated into the Emirates' armed forces. They were issued local military uniforms, dog tags, weapons, and assigned military ranks of the UAE army. Thus, legally, they were legitimate combatants of a foreign state, not American mercenaries, and performed military tasks officially.
Golan presented the assassination program as a form of "precision counter-terrorism." According to him, targeted killings of specific political or religious leaders are a more humane way of waging war compared to bombings, as they avoid mass civilian casualties.
He also stated that the US and its allies should adopt the Israeli experience of targeted assassinations and outsource such tasks to private military companies.
To fulfill the contract, Golan assembled a small strike group. It included French Legion veterans and former US special forces operatives, including Navy SEALs and Green Berets. Weapons, equipment, and logistics were provided by the Arab contractors.
The first operation took place in December 2015. The target was Ansaaf Mayo, the leader of the Yemeni branch of the Al-Islah party in Aden. A bomb was planted near his office, but Mayo left the building about half an hour before the explosion and survived.
Later, group member Andy Gilmore confirmed the attack, stating that if the client identified a person as a terrorist, the team had no further questions.
Despite the operation's failure, it was still considered successful: Mayo hastily left the country and lost influence in the region.
The group's arsenal included the full spectrum of targeted elimination methods: magnetic IEDs on cars, ambushes on travel routes, motorcycle groups for rapid approach, disguised charges, and close-range assassinations. A key role was played by an intelligence network that allowed tracking targets' movements almost in real-time.
In addition to its own operations, Spear was involved in training Emirati officers – they were taught surveillance, target acquisition, operation planning, and targeted elimination methods. Later, these skills began to be passed on to local Yemeni formations. In essence, the group not only carried out eliminations but also built a mechanism that continued to operate autonomously through local proxy forces.
For such work, the company received 1.5 million dollars monthly, not including separate bonuses for confirmed eliminations. The core of Spear consisted of no more than 20 people, and the salary of an ordinary operator reached 25 thousand dollars a month – a level unavailable even to many elite units worldwide.
According to the British human rights organization Reprieve, between 2015 and 2018, 160 contract killings were carried out with the direct assistance of PMC Spear Operations Group.
As the investigation showed, out of 160 killed, only 23 people had any confirmed ties to terrorist organizations. The rest were political opponents of the UAE, local leaders, and religious figures.
The story of Spear shows what modern shadow politics truly looks like. When a private military contract conceals a mechanism that allows major players to solve the most sensitive tasks through proxies, bypassing rules and freeing themselves from accountability...
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