Syria Military Power

The Syrian Armed Forces (Arabic: القوات المسلحة العربية السورية‎) are the military forces of Syria. They consist of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Navy, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air Defense Force, and several paramilitary forces. According to the Syrian Constitution, the President of Syria is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

The military is a conscripted force; males serve in the military upon reaching the age of 18.^[5] Before the beginning of the Syrian civil war, the obligatory military service period was being decreased over time. In 2005, it was reduced from two and a half years to two years, in 2008 to 21 months and in 2011 to year and a half

With its headquarters in Damascus, the Syrian military consists of air, ground, and navy forces. Active personnel were estimated as 295,000 in 2011, with an additional 314,000 reserves. Paramilitary forces were estimated at 108,000 in 2011.^[29]

The majority of the Syrian military are Sunni, but most of the military leadership are Alawites. Alawites make up 12 percent of the Syrian population but are estimated to make up 70 percent of the career soldiers in the Syrian Army.^[11][30] Of the 200,000 or so career soldiers in the Syrian Army, 140,000 are Alawites.^[31] A similar imbalance is seen in the officer corps where some 80 percent of the officers are Alawites. The military’s most elite divisions, the Republican Guard and the 4th Mechanized Division, which are commanded by Bashar's brother, are exclusively Alawite. Most of Syria’s 300,000 conscripts and air force pilots are, however, Sunni.^[11][32] Because of the Alawite composition of the Syrian armed forces, its interests are closely aligned with those of President Bashar al-Assad and the Assad family.

In 1987, Joshua Sinai of the Library of Congress wrote that the Syrian Arab Army was the dominant military service, and as such controlled the senior-most posts in the armed forces, and had the most manpower, approximately 80 percent of the combined services. In 1987, Sinai wrote that the major development in force organisation was the establishment of an additional divisional framework based on the special forces and the organisation of ground formations into two corps.^[33] In 2010, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated army regulars at 220,000, with an additional 280,000 reserves. That figure was unchanged in the 2011 edition of the Military Balance,^[29] but in the 2013 edition, in the midst of the war, the IISS estimated that army strength was 110,000.

The army's active manpower served in three all-arms army corps, eight armoured divisions (with one independent armoured brigade), three mechanized divisions, one armoured-special forces division, and ten independent airborne-special forces brigades.^[3] The army had eleven divisional formations reported in 2011, with a fall in the number of armoured divisions reported from the 2010 edition from eight to seven.^[29] The independent armoured brigade had been replaced by an independent tank regiment. However in addition to the 14th Special Forces Division, the 15th Special Forces Division has been identified by Arabic Wikipedia and Human Rights Watch in 2011.^[34]

The former Defense companies were merged into the Syrian Army as the 4th Armoured Division and the Republican Guard. The 4th Armoured Division became one of the Assad government's most trusted security forces.

In 1950, the Syrian Navy was established following the procurement of a few naval craft from France. The initial personnel consisted of soldiers who had been sent to French academies of naval training.^[35] In 1985, the navy consisted of approximately 4,000 regular and 2,500 reserve officers and men. The navy is under the army's Latakia regional command. The fleet was based in the ports of Latakia, Baniyas, Minat al Bayda, and Tartus. Among the 41 vessel fleet were 2 frigates, 22 missile attack craft (including 10 advanced Osa II missile boats), 2 submarine chasers, 4 mine warfare vessels, 8 gunboats, 6 patrol craft, 4 missile corvettes (on order), 3 landing craft (on order), 1 torpedo recovery vessel and, as part of its coastal defence system, Sepal shore-to-sea missiles with a range of 300 kilometers

The Syrian Arab Air Force is the Aviation branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It was established in 1948, and saw combat in 1948, 1967, 1973 and in 1982 against Israel. It has seen combat against militant groups on Syrian soil in 2011-2012 during the Syrian civil war. Presently, there are at least 15 Syrian Airforce bases throughout the country.

In 1987, according to the Library of Congress Country Studies, the Air Defence Command, within the Army Command, but also composed of Air Force personnel, numbered approximately 60,000.^[33] In 1987, units included twenty air defence brigades (with approximately ninety-five SAM batteries) and two air defence regiments. The Air Defence Command had command access to interceptor aircraft and radar facilities. Air defences included SA-5 long-range SAM batteries around Damascus and Aleppo, with additional SA-6 and SA-8 mobile SAM units deployed along Syria's side of the Lebanese border and in eastern Lebanon.

At some later point in time, the Air Defence Command was upgraded into a separate Syrian Air Defense Force.

The breakup of the Soviet Union— long the principal source of training, material, and credit for the Syrian forces — may have slowed Syria's ability to acquire modern military equipment. It has an arsenal of surface-to-surface missiles. In the early 1990s, Scud-C missiles with a 500-kilometer range were procured from North Korea, and Scud-D, with a range of up to 700 kilometers, is allegedly being developed by Syria with the help of North Korea and Iran, according to Eyal Zisser.^[36]

Syria received significant financial aid from Persian Gulf Arab states as a result of its participation in the Persian Gulf War, with a sizable portion of these funds earmarked for military spending. In 2005, Russia forgave Syria of three-fourths, or about $9.8 billion, of its $13.4 billion Soviet-era debt. Russia wrote off the debt in order to renew arms sales with Syria.^[37] As of 2011, arms contracts with Russia, Syria's main arms supplier, were worth at least $4 billion.^{[38][39][40][41]} Syria has conducted research and allegedly produced weapons of mass destruction.^[42]

In 1987, according to the Library of Congress Country Study on Syria, service uniforms for Syrian officers generally followed the British Army style, although army combat clothing followed the older British model. Each uniform had two coats: a long one for dress and a short jacket for informal wear. Army officer uniforms were khaki in summer, olive in winter. Certain Army and Air Defense Force personnel (i.e., commandos and paratroops) may have worn camouflage uniforms. Air force officers had two uniforms for each season: a khaki and a light gray for summer and a dark blue and a light gray in winter. Naval officers wore white in summer and navy blue in winter while lower ranks wear the traditional bell bottoms and white blouse. The uniform for naval chief petty officers was a buttoned jacket, similar to that worn by United States chief petty officers. Officers had a variety of headgear, including a service cap, garrison cap, and beret (linen in summer and wool in winter). The color of the beret varied by season and according to the officer's unit.^[43]

The Syrian military provides NBC uniforms to soldiers in order to remain effective in an environment effected by biological or chemical agents. This uniform consisted of a Russian-made Model ShMS-41 mask similar to those made in the Desert Storm conflict.^[44] Previous models of the ShMS used a hose, while the improved "ShmS-41" used a canister-style Respirator.^[45][46]

In 1987, according to the Library of Congress Country Study on Syria, commissioned officers' rank insignia were identical for the army and air force. These were gold on a bright green shoulder board for the army and gold on a bright blue board for the air force. Officer ranks were standard, although the highest is the equivalent of lieutenant general, a rank held in 1986 only by the commander in chief and the minister of defence. Navy officer rank insignia were gold stripes worn on the lower sleeve. The highest-ranking officer in Syria's navy is the equivalent of lieutenant general. Army and air force rank for warrant officers were indicated by gold stars on an olive green shield worn on the upper left arm. Lower noncommissioned ranks were indicated by upright and inverted chevrons worn on the upper left arm.^[43]

Although some twenty-five orders and medals were authorized, generally only senior officers and warrant officers wear medal ribbons. The following were some important Syrian awards: Order of Umayyads, Medal of Military Honor, the War Medal, Medal for Courage, Yarmuk Medal, Wounded in Action Medal, and Medal of 8 March 1963.^[43].^[6]