Land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces
Military unit
The
Syrian Army
(
SyA
or
SA
), officially the
Syrian Arab Army
(
SyAA
or
SAA
) (
Arabic
:
????????? ??????????? ???????????
,
romanized
:
al-Jay? al-?Arab? as-S?r?
), is the
land force
branch of the
Syrian Armed Forces
. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the most senior posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the combined services. The Syrian Army originated in
local military forces
formed by the French after World War I, after France obtained a
mandate
over the region.
It officially came into being in 1945, before Syria obtained full independence the following year.
Since 1946, it has played a major role in Syria's governance, mounting six military coups: two in 1949, including the
March 1949 Syrian coup d'etat
and the August 1949 coup by Colonel
Sami al-Hinnawi
, and one each in 1951,
1954
,
1963
,
1966
, and
1970
. It has fought four wars with
Israel
(
1948
, the
Six-Day War
in 1967, the
Yom Kippur War
of 1973, and
1982 Lebanon War
) and one with Jordan (
Black September in Jordan
, 1970). An armored division was also deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990?91 during the
Gulf War
, but saw little action. From 1976 to 2005 it was the major pillar of the
Syrian occupation of Lebanon
. Internally, it played a major part in suppressing the 1979?82
Islamist uprising in Syria
, and since early 2011 has been heavily engaged in fighting the
Syrian Civil War
, the most violent and prolonged war the Syrian Army has taken part in since its establishment in the 1940s.
History
[
edit
]
1919?1945
[
edit
]
In 1919, the French formed the
Troupes speciales du Levant
as part of the
Army of the Levant
in the
French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
. The former with 8,000 men later grew into both the Syrian and
Lebanese
armies. This force was used primarily as
auxiliaries
in support of French troops, and senior officer posts were held by Frenchmen, although Syrians were allowed to hold commissions below the rank of major.
[6]
The Syrian officer corps of the
Troupes speciales du Levant
mainly consisted former officers of the
Ottoman Army
and members of Syria's ethnic and religious minorities.
[7]
By 1927, more than 35% of Syrian soldiers came from the auxiliary troops; they were traditionally
Kurdish
,
Druze
or Circassian. After the repression of the
Great Syrian Revolt
by General
Maurice Gamelin
, commander of the Troupes du Levant, they were strengthened and became the main forces of the French apparatus.
[8]
In 1927, the force was augmented by North African infantry (
tirailleurs
) and cavalry (
spahis
),
French Foreign Legion
,
Troupes de marine
infantry and artillery units (both French and
Senegalese
). The whole force constituted the
Army of the Levant
.
1945?1970
[
edit
]
In August 1945, the Syrian Army was formed mainly from
Army of the Levant
. As Syria gained independence in 1946, its leaders envisioned a
division
-sized army. On June 19, 1947, the Syrian Army took the survivors of
Pan Am Flight 121
to the Presbyterian mission hospital at
Deir ez-Zor
. The 1st Brigade was ready by the time of the Syrian war against Israel on May 15, 1948. It consisted of two infantry
battalions
and one armored battalion. The 2nd Brigade was organized during the
1948 Arab?Israeli War
and also included two infantry battalions and one armored battalion.
[9]
At the time of the
1948 Arab?Israeli War
, the army was small, poorly armed, and poorly trained. "Paris had relied primarily on French regulars to keep the peace in Syria and had neglected indigenous forces. Consequently, training was lackadaisical, discipline lax, and staff work almost unheard of. ... there were about 12,000 men in the Syrian army. These troops were mostly grouped into three infantry brigades and an armored force of about battalion size," writes Pollack.
Between 1949 and 1966, a series of military coups destroyed the stability of the government and any remaining professionalism within the army. In March 1949, the chief of staff, General
Husni al-Za'im
, installed himself as president. Two more military dictators followed by December 1949. General
Adib Shishakli
then held power until deposed in the
1954 Syrian coup d'etat
. Further coups followed, each attended by a purge of the officer corps to remove supporters of the losers from the force.
'Discipline in the army broke down across the board as units and their commanders pledged their allegiance to different groups and parties. Indeed, by the late 1950s, the situation had become so bad that Syrian officers regularly disobeyed the orders of superiors who belonged to different ethnic or political groups.
The
1963 Syrian coup d'etat
had as one of its key objectives the seizure of the
Al-Kiswah
military camp, home to the 70th Armored Brigade. In June 1963, Syria took part in the
Iraqi
military campaign against the
Kurds
by providing aircraft, armoured vehicles and a force of 6,000 soldiers. Syrian troops crossed the Iraqi border and moved into the Kurdish town of
Zakho
in pursuit of
Barzani
's
fighters
.
[13]
There was another
1966 Syrian coup d'etat
.
However, in 1967 the army did appear to have some strength. It had around 70,000 personnel, roughly 550 tanks and assault guns, 500 APCs, and nearly 300 artillery pieces.
The army had sixteen brigades: twelve infantry, two armored (probably including the 70th Armored), and two mechanized. The Syrian government deployed twelve of the sixteen brigades to the
Golan
, including both armored brigades and one mechanized brigade. Three 'brigade groups', each comprising four brigades, were deployed: the 12th in the north, holding the sector from the B'nat Ya'acov bridge to the slopes of
Mount Hermon
, the 35th in the south from the B'nat Ya'acov bridge to the
Yarmuk River
border with Jordan, and the 42nd in reserve, earmarked for a theater-level counterattack role. During the
Six-Day War
Israeli assault of the Golan heights, the Syrian army failed to counterattack the Israelis as the Israelis breached the Syrian positions. While Syrian units fought hard whenever the Israelis entered their fields of fire, no attempts appear to have been made to exploit Israeli disorientation and confusion during the initial assault.
Judging from reports of 1967?1970, including the reporting of the 5th Infantry Division in 1970, the Army appears to have formed its first
divisions
during this period. The
1st
and
3rd Armored Division
, and
5th
,
7th
, and
9th
Mechanized Infantry Divisions were all formed prior to 1973.
[16]
Samuel M. Katz writes that after Hafez al-Assad gained power in November 1970, the army expanded to the five divisions listed above, plus ten independent brigades, an artillery rocket brigade (the 69th), and "a reinforced brigade variously termed the 70th Armored Brigade or the Assad Republican Guard. It is today known as the Armored Defense Force; as Assad's praetorian guard it is stationed in and around Damascus and subordinate to the
Defense Companies
under the command of Assad's brother
Rifa'at
."
[17]
1970?2010
[
edit
]
On 18 September 1970, the Syrian government became involved in
Black September in Jordan
when it sent a reinforced armored brigade to aid the
Palestine Liberation Organization
.
Syrian armored units crossed the border and overran
Irbid
with the help of local Palestinian forces. They encountered several
Jordanian Army
detachments, but rebuffed them without major difficulty. Two days later, the 5th Infantry Division, heavily reinforced, was also sent into Jordan. Two armored brigades were attached to the division, bringing its tank strength up to over 300
T-55s
and its manpower to over 16,000. The division entered Jordan at
ar-Ramtha
, destroyed a company of Jordanian
Centurion tanks
there, and continued directly towards
Amman
.
Pollack says it is likely that they intended to overthrow the Jordanian monarchy itself. Despite defeating the Jordanian Army at al-Ramtha on 21 September, after fierce air attacks on 22 September, the Syrians stopped the attack and began to retreat.The retreat was caused by Jordan's appeal for international aid : "The report said that Hussein “not only appealed for the moral and diplomatic support of the United Kingdom and the United States, coupled with the threat of international action, but had also asked for an air strike by Israel against Syrian troops.” (New York Post)
[19]
After 1970 further Syrian engagements included:
The Syrian armed forces have also been involved in suppressing dissident movements within Syria, for example the
Islamist uprising in Syria
in 1979?1982. In March 1980 the
3rd Armored Division
and detachments from the Defense Companies arrived in Aleppo. The division was under the command of General
Shafiq Fayadh
,
Hafiz Assad
's first cousin. The troops sealed "off whole quarters and carr[ied] out house-to-house searches, often preceded by tank fire."
[21]
Hundreds of suspects were rounded up. Only two conventional Army brigades deployed to Hama in 1982, the 3rd Armored Division's 47th Armored and 21st Mechanized Brigades. Three quarters of the officers and one third of the soldiers in the two brigades were Alawites.
[22]
Most of the repression was carried out by the Defense Companies and the Special Forces. Meanwhile, the Special Forces were isolating and combing through
Hama
, killing and capturing suspected government opponents.
[23]
Syrian forces fought Israel during the
1982 Lebanon War
.
In 1984, Major General
Ali Haidar
's Special Forces were instrumental in blocking an abortive attempt by
Rifaat Assad
and his Defense Companies to seize the capital.
[24]
Fayadh's 3rd Armoured Division moved into the capital to join Haidar's forces in the confrontation with the Defense Companies. The 3rd Armoured Division, it seems, had historically been based at
al-Qutayfah
, near Damascus.
[25]
Bennett dates the establishment of corps in the Syrian Army to 1985. Writing forty years later, Tom Cooper says "..despite the establishment of.. corps.. most division commanders continued reporting directly to the
President
. Correspondingly, not only the Chief of Staff of the Syrian Armed Forces but also the Corps HQ exercised only a limited operational control over the Army's divisions."
Declassified CIA documents from February 1987 say that the 3rd Corps and 17th and 18th Armoured Divisions were established in 1986.
[27]
The 9th Armoured Division served in the
1991 Persian Gulf War
as the Arab Joint Forces Command North reserve and saw little action.
[28]
In 1994, Haidar expressed objections to the Syrian president's decision to bring Bashar home from his studies in Britain and groom him for the succession after the death of Basil, the eldest Assad son.
[24]
Soon afterwards, on 3 September 1994,
Jane's Defence Weekly
reported that then-President Hafez Assad had dismissed at least 16 senior military commanders. Among them was Haidar, then commander of the Special Forces, and General
Shafiq Fayadh
, a cousin of the President who had commanded the "crack" 3rd Armored Division for nearly two decades. The 3rd Armored Division was "deployed around Damascus." JDW commented that "the Special Forces and the 3rd Armored Division, along with the 1st Armored Division are key elements in the security structure that protects Assad's government. Any command changes involving those formations have considerable political significance." Post-uprising reporting indicated the 1st Armored Division had historically been at
al-Kiswah
.
[25]
On 29 September 2004,
Jane's Defence Weekly
reported that Syria had begun to redeploy elements of one or more Syrian Army special forces regiments based in the coastal hills a few kilometres south of Beirut in Lebanon. A senior Lebanese Army officer told JDW that the 3,000 troops involved would return to Syria.
[29]
Cordesman wrote that in 2006 the Syrian Army had "organized two corps that reported to the Land Forces General Staff and the Commander of the Land Force."
As of 2010, the army's formations included three army corps (the
1st
, 2nd, and 3rd), eight armored divisions (with one independent armored brigade), three mechanized divisions, one armored-special forces division and ten independent airborne-special forces brigades.
The army had 11 divisional formations reported in 2011, with a fall in the number of armored divisions reported from the 2010 edition from eight to seven.
The independent armored brigade had been replaced by an independent tank regiment.
In 2009 and 2010, according to the
International Institute for Strategic Studies
in London, the Syrian army comprised 220,000 regular personnel, and the entire armed forces (including the navy, air force and air defenses) had 325,000 regular troops.
[32]
Additionally, it had about 290,000 reservists.
[32]
[33]
[34]
Syrian Civil War
[
edit
]
Military equipment in April 2011 (including storage)
[
edit
]
The vast majority of Syrian military equipment was Soviet manufactured.
[35]
[36]
Defections
[
edit
]
At October 1, 2011, according to high-ranking defected Syrian Colonel Riad Assaad, 10,000 soldiers, including high-ranking officers, had deserted the Syrian Army.
[37]
Some of these defectors had formed the
Free Syrian Army
, engaging in combat with security forces and soldiers in what would turn into the
Syrian Civil War
.
At 16 November 2011, Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the UK-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
, however estimated that less than 1,000 soldiers had deserted the Syrian Army; at the same moment, an
FSA
battalion commander claimed that the FSA embraced 25,000 army deserters.
[38]
Also in November 2011, the
Free Syrian Army
or the website of
France 24
estimated the Syrian Army at 200,000 troops.
[39]
According to General
Mustafa al-Sheikh
, one of the most senior defectors, however, in January 2012 the Syrian forces were estimated at 280,000 including conscripts.
[40]
By March 15, 2012, many more soldiers, unhappy with crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters, switched sides and a Turkish official said that 60,000 soldiers had deserted the Syrian army, including 20,000 since February 20. It was added that most of the deserters were junior officers and soldiers.
[41]
By 5 July 2012, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
estimated "tens of thousands" soldiers to have defected.
[34]
By August 2012, 40 Brigadier generals from the Army had defected to the opposition army, out of a total of 1,200 generals.
[42]
On June 14, 2013, 73 Syrian Army officers and their families, some 202 people in total, sought refuge in Turkey. Amongst their number were seven generals and 20 colonels.
[43]
In 2013, Agence France Press wrote on 'Syria's diminished security forces.'
[33]
Strength impaired
[
edit
]
Up until July 2012, the scale of defections from the Syrian Army, though hard to quantify, was too small to make an impact on the strength of that army, according to Aram Nerguizian from the Washington-based
Center for Strategic and International Studies
.
[34]
Strategically important units of the Syrian armed forces are always controlled by
Alawite
officers; defecting soldiers ? by July 2012 "tens of thousands" according to the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
? are mainly
Sunni
without access to vital command and control, Nerguizian said,
[34]
however the formed Syrian Minister of Defense General
Dawoud Rajiha
killed in the
18 July 2012 Damascus bombing
was a
Christian
.
The army in Syria is the power structure. The armed forces would fight to an end. It would be a bloodbath, literally, because the army would fight to protect not only the institution of the army but the regime itself, because the army and the regime is one and the same.
?
Fawaz Gerges
,
Lebanese-American
author
[44]
Analyst Joseph Holliday wrote in 2013 that "the Assad government has from the beginning of the conflict been unable to mobilize all of its forces without risking largescale defections. The single greatest liability that the Assad regime has faced in employing its forces has been the challenge of relying on units to carry out orders to brutalize the opposition."
[45]
This has resulted in Bashar's following his father's precedent by attaching regular army units to more reliable forces (Special Forces, Republican Guard, or 4th Armored Division). When Hafez al-Assad directed the suppression of revolts in Hama in 1982, this technique was also used.
[46]
In 2014, analyst Charles Lister wrote that "As of April 1, 2014, the SAA had incurred at least 35,601 fatalities, which when combined with a reasonable ratio of 3 wounded personnel for every soldier killed and approximately 50,000 defections, suggests the SAA presently commands roughly 125,000 personnel. This loss of manpower is exacerbated by Syria's longentrenched problem of having to selectively deploy forces based on their perceived trustworthiness."
[46]
The
International Institute for Strategic Studies
in London calculated that by August 2013 the strength of the Syrian army had, compared with 2010, roughly been cut in half, due to defections, desertions and casualties: it now counted 110,000 troops.
[33]
The Syrian Arab Army suffers from serious recruitment issues as the Syrian Civil War drags on, with military age men across sectarian lines no longer willing to join or serve their conscription terms. These issues are especially notable among the Druze population, who have clashed with regime security forces and broken Druze youths out of regime imprisonment to avoid them serving in the army.
[47]
Increasingly, Assad's Alawite base of support refuse to send their sons to the military due to massive casualty rates among military age men in their community; according to pro
oppositions
sources a third of 250,000 Alawite men of fighting age have been killed in the Syrian Civil War, leading to major tensions between the sect and the Syrian government.
[48]
As of mid-2018, then-Israeli
Defence Minister
Avigdor Lieberman
said that the Syrian Arab Army had regained its pre-2011 strength levels, recovering from manpower shortages earlier in the Syrian Civil War.
[49]
Roles of 3rd, 11th, 17th and 18th Divisions
[
edit
]
The 3rd Armored Division has deployed elements of three brigades from its bases around Qutayfah to Deraa, Zabadani, and Hama, while the
11th Armored Division
has stayed close to its bases in Homs and Hama.
[50]
The European Council named Major General Wajih Mahmud as commander of the
18th Armored Division
in the
Official Journal of the European Union
on 15 November 2011, sanctioning him for violence committed in
Homs
.
[51]
Henry Boyd of the
IISS
noted that "in
Homs
, the 18th Armored Division was reinforced by Special Forces units and ... by elements of the 4th Division under Maher's de facto command."
[52]
Information from Holliday 2013 suggests that the reserve armored division is the
17th
(rather than any other designation), which was responsible for eastern Syria.
[53]
The division's 93rd Brigade left
Idlib
to secure
Raqqa Governorate
in early 2012.
[54]
Following the reported
capture of Raqqa on 3?6 March 2013
, elements of the 17th Division remained under siege to the north of the city in October 2013.
[55]
Relationship with National Defense Force
[
edit
]
The
National Defense Force
is under the control and supervision of the Syrian Army
[56]
and acts in an infantry role, directly fighting against rebels on the ground and running counter-insurgency operations in co-ordination with the army which provides them logistical and artillery support.
Struggling with reliability issues and defections, officers of the SAA increasingly prefer the part-time volunteers of the NDF, who they regard as more motivated and loyal, over regular army conscripts to conduct infantry operations and act as support for advancing tanks.
[57]
An officer in Homs, who asked not to be identified, said the army was increasingly playing a logistical and directive role, while
NDF
fighters act as combatants on the ground.
[58]
The NDF continues to play a significant role in military operations across Syria despite the formation of other elite units, many of which receive direct assistance from Russia.
Demographics
[
edit
]
Sunni
and
Shia
(
Alawite
) Muslims make up the majority of the Syrian Arab Army and many hold high governmental positions.
[59]
Religious minorities also serve in the Army, such as
Druzes
,
Christians
and
Yazidis
. From the start of the
Syrian Civil War
till now, the Syrian Arab Army has been composed mainly of Sunni Syrians (for example, the 4th Mechanized Division is entirely composed and led by Sunnis),
[60]
with mixed religious leadership at higher military positions.
[61]
Since 2022, the Minister of Defense and also Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces Lieutenant General
Ali Mahmoud Abbas
, and Major General Mufid Hassan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, are some of the Sunni Muslims in the positions of power.
[62]
Some volunteer brigades, such as
Arab Nationalist Guard
, are made up of Sunni Syrians and other Sunnis from the Middle Eastern region that adhere to pan-Arab ideals.
[63]
Structure in 2001
[
edit
]
Before 2011, it was difficult to access reliable information about the SAA because of the Damascus government's sensitivity to potential espionage, particularly by Israel.
[64]
Richard Bennett wrote in 2001 that "..corps [were] formed in 1985 to give the Army more flexibility and to improve combat efficiency by decentralizing the command structure, absorbing at least some of the lessons learned during the Israeli invasion of the Lebanon in 1982."
[65]
The organization and military doctrine of the army followed the Soviet model.
[66]
Richard Bennett's estimate of the 2001 order of battle was:
Bennett said the 1st Corps also [had] four independent special forces regiments, including two trained for heliborne commando operations against the Israeli
signals intelligence
& observation posts on
Mount Hermon
and elsewhere in the Golan Heights.
- 2nd Corps
HQ
Zabadani
, covers north of Damascus, to Homs and includes Lebanon.
- Bennett said in 2001 that the corps' principal units were believed to include:
- 1st Armored Division
, with the 44th and 46th Armored Brigades and the 42nd Mechanized Brigade
- 3rd Armored Division
, with the 47th and 82nd Armored Brigades and the 132nd Mechanized Brigade
- 11th Armored Division
, with the 60th and 67th Armored Brigades and the 87th Mechanized Brigade
- 4th Mechanized Division
with the 1st Armored Brigade and the 61st and 89th Mechanized Brigades
- 10th Mechanized Division
, headquartered in Shtoura, Lebanon. Its main units [were in 2001] deployed to control the strategic Beirut-Damascus highway with the 123rd Mechanized Brigade near Yanta, the 51st Armored Brigade near Zahle in the Beqaa Valley and the 85th Armored Brigade, deployed around the complex of positions at Dahr al-Baidar.
- three other heavy brigades from the 3rd and 11th Armored Divisions [were] known to be regularly deployed to eastern Lebanon.
- there [were] five special forces regiments in the Lebanon.
- 3rd Corps
HQ
Aleppo
, based in the north and covered Hama, the Turkish and Iraqi borders, the Mediterranean coastline and was tasked with protecting the complex of
chemical
and
biological warfare
and missile production and launch facilities.
- The 2nd Reserve Armored Division, with the 14th and 15th Armored Brigades and the 19th Mechanized Brigade. The 2nd [was] also believed to operate as the main armored forces training formation. It seems likely that the "2nd" designation, reported in 2001, was incorrect, as it has not been reported during the
Syrian Civil War
.
- Other units under the control of this corps included four independent infantry brigades, one border guard brigade, one independent armored regiment, effectively a brigade group, and one special forces regiment.
- the Coastal Defense Brigade, which [operated] largely as an independent unit within the 3rd Corps area, [was] headquartered in the naval base of
Latakia
with four Coastal Defense Battalions in
Latakia
,
Banias
,
Hamidieh
and
Tartus
. Each Battalion has four batteries of both the short range SSC-3 Styx and long range SSC-1B Sepal missile systems.
The IISS listed smaller formations in 2006 as:
[67]
- Four independent
Infantry
Brigades
- Ten independent Airborne Special Forces Regiments (Seven regiments attached to 2nd Corps)
- Two independent
Artillery
Brigades
- Two independent Anti-tank
Brigades
- Surface-to-surface Missile Command with three
SSM
Brigades
(each with three SSM
battalions
),
- One brigade with
FROG-7
,
- One brigade with
Scud
-B/C/D.
- One brigade with
SS-21
Scarab,
- Three coastal defense missile brigades
- One brigade with 4 SS-C-1B Sepal launchers,
- One brigade with 6
P-15 Termit
launchers, alternative designation SS-C-3 'Styx'
- One brigade with 6+
P-800 Oniks
launchers,
- One
Border Guard
Brigade
Protecting Damascus:
Basic structure until 2011:
[69]
[
edit
]
- 3 Corps (
Falaq
): 50,000 men in 3?4 divisions each
- 14 Divisions (
Firqa
): 5,000?15,000 men in 5?6 brigades/regiments each
- More than 40 Brigades (
Liwa
): 2,500?3,500 men in 5?6 battalions (1?3 armored/mechanized + artillery/ADA/engineers) each
- Mechanized
:
- 105 IFVs in 3 mechanized battalions
- 41 Tanks in 1 armored battalion
- 3,500 soldiers
- Armored
:
- 105 Tanks in 3 armored battalions
- 31 IFVs in 1 mechanized battalion
- 2,500 soldiers
- More than 20 Regiments (
Fawj
): 1,500 men
- Light Infantry: 1,500 soldiers in 3 infantry battalions
- Artillery: 45 howitzers and 1,500 soldiers in 3 artillery battalions
- Battalion (
Katiba
): 300?500 men in 4?5 companies
- Company (
Sariya
): 60?80 men
Structure in 2022
[
edit
]
Between 2015 and 2018, the Syrian Arab Army underwent many structural changes, with the cooperation of
Russia
and
Iran
.
[70]
In addition, new units were created by 2021.
[71]
As of August 2022, according to Gregory Waters, the structure as the order of battle (
at full strength
) was:
[72]
[73]
Units reporting to the Chief of Staff
[
edit
]
- Republican Guard
- 100th Artillery Regiment
- 101st Security Regiment
[74]
- 102nd Security Regiment
- 103rd
Commando
Brigade
- 104th
Airborne
Brigade
[75]
- 105th Mechanized Brigade
[75]
- 107th Artillery Regiment
[71]
- 108th Armored Regiment
[71]
- 109th Armored Regiment
[71]
- 151th Mechanized Regiment
[71]
- 152nd Mechanized Regiment
[71]
- 800th Regiment
[76]
- Lionesses of Defense
Armored Brigade
[77]
[78]
[79]
- 30th Division
[80]
- 102nd Commando Brigade
- 106th Mechanized Brigade
- 123rd Special Forces Brigade
[81]
- 124th Special Forces Brigade
[81]
- 135th Mechanized Brigade
[72]
- 47th Special Forces Regiment
[82]
- 93rd Special Forces Regiment
- 147th Special Forces Regiment
- Artillery Regiment
- 4th Armoured Division
[75]
- 38th Armored Brigade
[83]
- 40th Armored Brigade
- 41st Armored Brigade
- 42nd Armored Brigade
- 138th Mechanized Brigade
- 154th Artillery Regiment
[83]
- 333rd Infantry Regiment
- 555th Special Forces (Airborne) Regiment
- 666th Infantry Regiment
[72]
- Al-Imam Hussein Brigade
[84]
- Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba
Syrian-wing
[85]
Special Forces units formed during the Syrian Civil War:
[a]
- 1st Assault Brigade
[112]
- 13th Battalion
- 1579th Battalion
[115]
- 2nd Assault Brigade
[116]
- 3rd Assault Brigade
[72]
- 4th Assault Brigade
[72]
- 5th Assault Brigade
[72]
- 1st Infantry Regiment
- 2nd Infantry Regiment
- 6th Assault Brigade
[72]
- 79th Infantry Battalion
- 86th Infantry Battalion
- 7th Assault Brigade
[72]
- 8th Assault Brigade
[72]
- al-Quds Brigade
[117]
- Lions of al-Quds Battalion
[117]
- Defenders of Aleppo Battalion
- Deterrence Battalion
- Lions of al-Shahba Battalion
[118]
- 103rd and 148th Artillery Brigades
[119]
[120]
Military equipment
[
edit
]
The majority of Syrian military equipment was manufactured by
Soviet Union
,
Russia
,
China
and
Iran
.
[121]
[122]
Military equipment of the Syrian Army as of 2020:
[123]
[124]
Uniforms, weapons and rank insignia
[
edit
]
Uniforms and personnel equipment
[
edit
]
Service uniforms for Syrian officers generally follow the
British Army
style, although army combat clothing follows the Soviet model.
[125]
Each uniform has two coats: a long one for dress and a short jacket for informal wear. Army officer uniforms are khaki in summer, olive in winter. All Army (including paratroops and special forces) and Air Defense Force personnel wear camouflage uniforms.
[126]
Among the camouflage are
Red Lizard
, Syrian Leaf patterns,
EMR Desert
; a locally-made copies of the
ERDL
and
M81 Woodland
.
[127]
[126]
Officers have a variety of headgear, including a service cap, garrison cap, and beret (linen in summer and wool in winter).
[127]
The color of the beret varies according to the officer's unit. The most common beret color is black, for Infantry, Engineering, Signals and supporting arms personnel, followed by green, for Armored, Mechanized and Artillery personnel, red for the
Republican Guard
and Military Police, and maroon (blue) for the Special Forces.
[128]
Since 2009, the SAA had acquired large numbers of Chinese-produced combat gear, including helmets and bullet proof vests.
[126]
In 2011, the standard issue combat helmets were the olive Chinese
QGF-02
, and the Soviet
SSh-68
for the reserve forces.
[129]
Both of them can be equipped with the Syrian Leaf camouflage helmet covers. Since 2015, some regular units were equipped with
6B7 helmets
from Russia. Standard protective gear for all Army units were (
PASGT
) TAT-BA-7 bullet-proof vests. The Republican Guard and Special Forces were the only units equipped with
ACH
,
FAST
,
6B47
helmets and
6B45
, Ruyin-3
ballistic vests
. The Syrian military also provides
NBC uniforms
to soldiers to remain effective in an environment affected by biological or chemical agents. This uniform consists of a Russian-made Model
GP-5
,
PMK
and ShMS-41 masks.
[130]
Service weapons
[
edit
]
Service weapons of the Syrian Arab Army consist of stocks of
Cold War
-era arms. Main service pistols of the Syrian Army are
Makarov PM
and
Stechkin-APS
. Main service assault rifles are Soviet
AKM
/
AKMS
,
AK-74
, Chinese
Type 56
and
Sa vz. 58
.
[131]
Main service carbines are
AKS-74U
and copies of Belgian
FN FAL
. Syrian Army uses the
Dragunov SVD
sniper rifles and derivatives like the
Tabuk
,
PSL
. Army has also modern snipers like
Steyr SSG 69
,
[132]
Heckler & Koch G3
and Syrian-made
Golan S-01
.
[133]
The most widely used machine guns are
RPK
,
PKM
,
Type 73
,
[134]
NSV
and
PKP Pecheneg
.
[135]
Until 2011, the procurement of large numbers of
AK-74Ms
was planned to replace the AK(M) and other derivatives, the Civil War put a halt to this large scale re-equipment programme.
[126]
Since 2015, Syrians have received big equipment assistance from Russia.
[136]
Ranks
[
edit
]
The rank insignia of
commissioned officers
.
[125]
Rank group
|
General / flag officers
|
Senior officers
|
Junior officers
|
Officer cadet
|
Syrian Arab Army
[137]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
????
Fariq
|
???? ?????
Eimad 'awal
|
????
Eimad
|
????
Alliwa'
|
????
Amid
|
????
Aqid
|
????
Muqaddam
|
????
Ra'id
|
????
Naqib
|
????? ???
Mulazim awwal
|
?????
Mulazim
|
|
The rank insignia of
non-commissioned officers
and
enlisted personnel
.
[125]
Rank group
|
Senior NCOs
|
Junior NCOs
|
Enlisted
|
Syrian Arab Army
[137]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No insignia
|
????? ???
Musaeid 'awal
|
????? ????
Musaeid thani
|
?????
Musaeid
|
???? ???
Raqib 'awal
|
???? ????
Raqib thani
|
????
Raqib
|
????
Earif
|
???? ???
Jundiun?? 'awal
|
????
Jundiun??
|
Awards
[
edit
]
Although some twenty-five orders and medals are authorized, generally only senior officers and warrant officers wear medal ribbons. The following are some important Syrian awards:
Order of Umayyad
, Medal of Military Honor, the War Medal, Medal for Courage, Yarmuk Medal, Wounded in Action Medal, and Medal of
8 March 1963
.
[125]
Chief of the General Staff of the Army
[
edit
]
The Chief of the General Staff of the Army and Armed Forces (
Arabic
:
???? ???? ??????? ?????? ????? ??????? ???????
,
romanized
:
Rayiys hayyat al'arkan aleamat liljaysh walquaat almusalaha
) is the professional head of the
Syrian Armed Forces
and the Syrian Army. The Chief of the General Staff is appointed by the
President of Syria
, who is the
commander-in-chief
of the Armed Forces.
[138]
As of 2024, the Chief of the General Staff has been Lt. Gen. Abdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim, who was appointed to the role by Syrian President
Bashar Al-Assad
.
[139]
In April 2022, Maj. Gen. Mufid Hassan was also appointed as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
[62]
References
[
edit
]
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????? ????????".. ??????? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ???? "?????? ?????" (??? ??????)
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"Special Forces" in the Syrian Arab Army denotes specialized "light" infantry (airborne, air assault) and are "elite" only in relation to the conventional mechanized, armored units of the SAA. According to a declassified CIA report the stated Special Forces regiments were created to conduct counter-insurgency operations.
[86]
Special Forces units included the: 41st, 45th, 46th, 47th, 53rd and 54th independent special forces regiments.
[87]
Special Forces were heavily used from the early stage of the Syrian Civil War and as a result suffered heavy casualties, possibly up to three regiments (41st, 46th, 54th) may have been destroyed during the Syrian Civil War, the surviving three regiments were merged to other formations such as the Republican Guard, Tiger Forces and 4th Corps.
[72]
Later reports state that two battalions from the 54th regiment serve within the 17th Division.
[88]
- ^
(created in 2020)
Notes
[
edit
]
- Richard M. Bennett,
The Syrian Military: A Primer
, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, August/September 2001.
- Cooper, Tom (2015).
Syrian Conflagration: The Civil War 2011-2013
. Middle East@War Volume 1. Helion & Co.
ISBN
978-1-910294-10-9
.
[1]
- Joseph Holliday, 'The Assad Regime: From Counterinsurgency to Civil War,'
Institute for the Study of War
, March 2013. The best concise description and analysis of the Syrian Army and its involvement in the current
Syrian Civil War
until Cooper 2015.
- International Institute for Strategic Studies
(2019). "The Military Balance 2019".
Military Balance
. London:
Routledge
.
doi
:
10.1080/04597222.2018.1561033
.
ISSN
1479-9022
.
S2CID
219628874
.
- International Institute for Strategic Studies
(2011).
The Military Balance 2011
. Routledge. pp. 311?312.
ISBN
978-1-85743-606-8
.
- International Institute for Strategic Studies (2010).
The Military Balance 2010
. London, United Kingdom: Routledge / IISS.
ISBN
978-1857435573
.
- Pollack, Kenneth M. (2002).
Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness 1948?91
. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
Reviewed in Brooks, Risa A. "Making Military Might: Why Do States Fail and Succeed? A Review Essay."
International Security
28, no. 2 (Fall 2003): 149-191.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Department of the Army
, Area Handbook for Syria, Washington, For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1965, "Department of the Army pamphlet no. 550-47." Revision of the 1958 edition.
- Pesach Melovany,
Out of the North an Evil shall break forth
, Tel-Aviv: Contento de Semrik, 2014.
- Hicham Bou Nassif, 'Second Class: the Grievances of Sunni Officers in the Syrian Armed Forces'
- History of the Syrian Arab Army: Prussianization of the Arab Army, the Arab Revolt of 1916?1918, and the cult of nationalization of Arabs in the Levant after World War I
, Infantry Magazine, Nov-Dec 2005.
- General Mustafa Tlas (ed.), History of the Syrian Arab Army/Al-Tareekh Al-Jaish Al-Arabi Al-Soori, Volume 1: 1901?1948, Center for Military Studies. Damascus, 2000. Volume 1 is 568 pages long and covers the Arab Revolt, the short-lived monarchy under King Feisal bin Hussein, the French Mandate, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and finally Syrian independence in 1949.
External links
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