Military of Syria

Infobox National Military
country=Syria
name=
native_name=


caption=


caption2=
founded=1946
current_form=
disbanded=
branches=Syrian Army Syrian Navy Syrian Air Force Syrian Air Defense Force Police and Security Force
headquarters=Damascus
commander-in-chief=Bashar al-Assad
commander-in-chief_title=President of Syria
minister=
minister_title=
commander=
commander_title=
age=
conscription=
manpower_data=
manpower_age=
available=4,356,413 (2005 est.)
available_f=
fit=3,453,888 (2005 est.)
fit_f=
reaching=225,113 (2005 est.)
reaching_f=
active=
ranked=
reserve=
deployed=
amount=858 million-1 billion (FY00 est.)
percent_GDP=5.9% (FY00)
domestic_suppliers=
foreign_suppliers=
imports=
exports=
history=
ranks=The President of Syria is commander in chief of the Syrian armed forces, comprising some 400,000 troops upon mobilization. The military is a conscripted force; males serve 30 months in the military upon reaching the age of 18. About 20,000 Syrian soldiers were deployed in Lebanon until April 27, 2005, when the last of Syria's troops left the country after three decades. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/syria/overview.htm]

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 capable of reaching most of the populated areas of Israel, Syria's longstanding enemy in the region. 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 Zisser. [ [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2FArticleNews%2FTPStory%2FLAC%2F20040928%2FCOSYRIA28%2FTPComment%2FTopStories&ord=2674524&brand=theglobeandmail&redirect_reason=2&denial_reasons=none&force_login=false "Syria's embrace of WMD"] by Eyal Zisser, "Globe and Mail", September 28, 2004 (link leads only to abstract; purchase necessary for full article)]

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 addition, Syria is buying additional weapons to either counter Israel's abilities to attack it or as preparation to take back the Golan Heights at some point in the future.

History

Involvement in military conflict

* The 1948 Arab-Israeli War (against Israel)
* The Six Day War (against Israel)
* The Yom Kippur War (against Israel)
* The Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990),
** 1982 Lebanon War (against Lebanese militias, the PLO and Israel)
* The Persian Gulf War (against Iraq)

The Syrian armed forces has also been involved in keeping the order in Syria, for example by fighting a Muslim Brotherhood insurrection in the 1980s (mostly notable for the Hama Massacre).

International disputes

Since 1967, most of the Golan Heights territory of South West Syria is under Israeli control. Since 1973, the cease-fire line has generally been respected by both sides, with very few incidents. Syria does not recognize the State of Israel. Syria and Lebanon both publicly maintain that the Israeli-annexed Shebaa farms area on the northern Golan is in fact Lebanese territory, and that Israel has therefore not withdrawn fully from Lebanon; Israel and the UN both dispute this, claiming the Shebaa area is part of the Golan heights territory, which the UN considers Israeli-occupied and Israel since annexation considers Israeli territory.

Syria was invited into Lebanon by that country's president in 1976, to intervene on the side of the government against a rebellion of PLO and Lebanese forces. Syrian forces lingered in the country throughout the Lebanese civil war, and eventually brought most of the nation under their control, in conjunction with a power-struggle with Israel, which occupied part of the south of the country from 1978. Following the end of the civil war in 1990, Syrian forces maintained what was in effect a military occupation of Lebanon until 2005, when they were forced out by widespread public protest and international pressure, following the murder of Rafiq al-Hariri. Syrian forces have been accused of involvement in that murder, as well as continued meddling in Lebanese affairs, and an international investigation into the Hariri killing and several subsequent bomb attacks has been launched by the UN.

Syria also considers the Hatay Province (referred to as Iskanderoun or Alexandretta) of Southern Turkey to be Syrian territory and under occupation, since it was handed over by France to Turkey during the colonial era. However, there has been no fighting over this issue, and with the improvement in Syrian-Turkish relations under Bashar al-Asad, the Hatay dispute seems largely forgotten, even if there has been no formal statement announcing a change in the Syrian position.

Modernization

In early September, 2008. The Syrian Government is in line with Russia to purchase MiG-29SMT fighters, Pantsir S1E air-defense systems , Iskander tactical missile systems , Yak-130 aircraft and two Amur-1650 submarines. Russia's foreign minister said his country's sale of weapons to Syria won't upset the balance of power in the Middle East. The sales are "in line with the international law" and "in the interests of strengthening stability and maintaining security" in regions close to Russian borders, Sergei Lavrov told reporters during a visit to the United Nations in New York. Also Russia plans to turn a Soviet-era navy site in the Syrian port of Tartus into a permanent naval base, RIA Novosti reported, adding that 10 Russian warships are deployed there now while Russia expands the port. Israel and the United States have said they oppose further arms sales to Syria because the weapons could fall under the control of Iran or Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. [http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/29/Russia_defends_arms_sales_to_Syria/UPI-28611222726785/]

The Forces

With its headquarters in DamascusThe Syrian military consists of the following forces:

*Syrian Army
*Syrian Navy
*Syrian Air Force
* Syrian Air Defense Force
* Police and Security Force

Army

The Syrian army is the dominant military service, as such its controls of the seniormost posts in the armed forces, and has the most manpower, approximately 80 percent of the combined services. In 1985 army regulars were estimated at 396,000, with an additional 300,000 reserves. The army had eleven divisional units. The major development in force organization was establishment of an additional divisional framework based on the special forces and the organization of ground formations into three corps. The army's active manpower served in three all-arms army corps, seven armored divisions (with one independent armored brigade), three mechanized divisions, one armored-special forces division, and ten independent airborne-special forces brigades.

yrian Navy

In 1950 the Syrian Navy was established following the procurement of a few naval craft from France. The initial personnel consisted of army soldiers who had been sent to French academies of naval training. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/syria/navy.htm] 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 defense system, Sepal shore-to-sea missiles with a range of 300 kilometers

yrian Air Force

The Syrian Air Force (Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al Arabiya as-Souriya in Arabic) is the Aviation branch of the Syrian armed forces. [See [http://www.scramble.nl/sy.htm Syrian Air Force Overview] at Scramble and [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/syria/airforce.htm Syrian Arab Airforce at Globalsecurity.org] for details of the Syrian Air Force]

Paramilitary forces

*Defense companies
*As Saiga
*Palestine Liberation Army

References and Sources

Further reading

*Kenneth M. Pollack, Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness 1948-91, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 2002, and Pollack's book reviewed in "International Security", Vol. 28, No.2.