Targeted sanctions’ impact over rebel groups has not been examined by scholars, making it unclear whether the policy mechanism has the capacity to peacefully resolve intrastate armed conflicts and cease hostilities by weakening rebel groups. Considering the mentioned, the paper explores how targeted sanctions impact rebel groups, and suggests that properly monitored and effectively enforced targeted sanctions have the capacity to weaken rebel groups, via shortening rebels’ economic, military and political resources. Using the method of structured, focused comparison, the suggested hypothesis is empirically tested on the rebel groups of Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola in Angola. The findings of the study revealed that effectively monitored and enforced targeted sanctions are capable of lessening rebels’ military and political resources, however, observing sanctions impact on economic resources proved difficult. Based on the analyses and findings the paper suggests that imposition of targeted sanctions should be initiated at the early warning phase of a conflict, rather at the point when the intensity of conflict has reached its peak.