The end of the Global War on Terror in 2028 didn't signal the end of the GLA, though it did hasten an initial decline that was in part self-inflicted. Back in the midst the conflict, as American and Chinese forces were laying their Central Asian bastions low, Gen. Deathstrike and his loyal confidants believed that their Middle Eastern proxies and benefactors weren't doing enough, and thus needed to be brought more into line even as they fell back to North Africa. Beginning with GLA-instigated civil war in Iran in 2023, the already tumultuous Middle East quickly plunged into chaos despite US forces in the region to contain the damage, which further worsened with the terrorist attack on Tel Aviv, Israel in 2026. But with the American withdrawal the following year, Deathstrike found that ironically he couldn't control the very situation he had intentionally created. The end result of this was the "Great Middle Eastern War," which would last for the next several years, lead to a limited nuclear exchange between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and plunge whole stretches of the region into total anarchy that not even the GLA could take advantage of. The "Middle Eastern Council" formed by moderates, reformers and secularists in the mid-2030s to end the petering remnants of that "war" - which soon gained strong backing from both Turkey and a restorationist Persia in 2036 - continue to see to it that, save for scattered holdouts, the Middle East no longer becomes a safe haven for the GLA ever again.
Thus this left North Africa by the end of the "Zero Hour Incident" as host to the last true strongholds for the GLA, or what's left of it. Infighting and internal strife had become endemic as the various mercenaries, militias, petty warlords and proxy dictators that made up the organization began following their own agendas, often against each other at the expense of the locals while Gen. Deathstrike himself felt content to retire with his loyalist supporters in his safehouse. In 2032 however, the Kazakh man who orchestrated the "invasion" of Europe was killed under mysterious circumstances, with some suspecting either the CIA or Mossad. This in turn caused what remained of the GLA to plunge into a power struggle as various leaders turned on one another. The future, it seemed, was bleak to say the least. At least until the ascension of Anwar Sulaymaan. Originally an arms dealer and insurgent from Iraq - gaining the moniker of "Death Merchant" - he became the right-hand man of the late Deathstrike in the 2020s. With the death of his leader, he quickly rallied the remaining GLA loyalists and pursued a ruthless campaign to reunite the fractured organization. In a few years, he had not only managed to "win over" some of the old guard and killed anyone who dared to oppose his cause but had already begun reshaping the GLA more in his own image. Even as the new self-styled Warlord expanded his influence, by 2037 North Africa's days as a terrorist bastion were numbered. The ECA's Operation Nemesis proved far more successful than he anticipated. Combined with Chinese, Russian and American pressure in their own budding spheres of influence in what some called the "African Resource Rush," it posed a threat to the GLA.
Thus in a twisted mirror of old scripture, Warlord Sulaymaan and his followers underwent an exodus south into the failed states of Central Africa, finding his promised land in what had been the Congo, known euphemistically since 2040 as "the Zone." Here, the GLA destroyed the already decrepit local authorities and seized as much territory as possible. As the remaining petty warlords in region were either killed off or strong-armed into being loyal puppets, Sulaymaan used his black market connection to establish several front companies to exploit the oil, drugs and diamonds flowing through his lands. Fake NGOs and social media campaigns were set up to better mask the GLA's activities from the wider world, as well as to cynically exploit well-intentioned idealists and activists in the West. In the process, he had forged a new kind of nation. One free of boundaries and laws where the oppressed and downtrodden can find their calling, if they're strong and ruthless enough to make it. Or so Sulaymaan says.
The GLA's forces have as expected, undergone changes from the Global War on Terror, but to a point. Much as before, the main bulk of its manpower comprise of "refugees," "exiles," extremists and plain militants mainly from the Middle East and North Africa, be it from the days of Deathstrike or more recent "converts." Others among its ranks though include renegades and criminals of all sorts of nationalities, further bolstered by a network of dependable if deniable African mercenaries and loosely-aligned, disposable "partisans." While by and large its weaponry remains a motley collection of Soviet-era refuge, jury-rigged weapons and Third World surplus, the "Death Merchant's" arms dealing coupled with looting military bases across the Zone have given the organization access to an arsenal more befitting a faux-country, complete with a rudimentary air force for what it's worth. Even with the GLA augmented and more organized nature though, some things haven't change. Hit-and-run tactics, subversion, stealth and "dirty" warfare - even suicide bombing - remain the preferred poison, along with more literal forms like lethal toxins and crude Scud launchers. And what else it lacks in terms of raw firepower or technology, it makes up through scavenging downed foes.
Not all of Sulaymaan's underlings are fully of the same mind as him, though. Many, particularly the radicals from North Africa and the Middle East, still long to establish a Caliphate or finish off the West. Others of more anarchist leanings seek instead to topple capitalism and imperialism everywhere. In fact, it could be said that there are as many scapegoats and "causes" as there are members nominally within the GLA. All however remain kept in line in the lands that had been bestowed to them by their Warlord. A place that's as close to a "warrior heaven" on Earth as any other.
