Military of Syria
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| Military of Syria |
|
|---|---|
| Founded | 1946 |
| Service branches | Syrian Arab Army Syrian Arab Navy Syrian Arab Air Force Syrian Arab Air Defense Forces Police and Security Force |
| Headquarters | Damascus |
| Leadership | |
| President of Syria | Bashar al-Assad |
| Available for military service |
4,356,413 (2005 est.), age 15–49 |
| Fit for military service |
3,453,888 (2005 est.), age 15–49 |
| Reaching military age annually |
225,113 (2005 est.) |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | 858 million-1 billion (FY00 est.) |
| Percent of GDP | 5.9% (FY00) |
The President of Syria is commander in chief of the Syrian armed forces, comprising some 320,000 troops upon mobilization. The military is a conscripted force; males serve 24 months in the military upon reaching the age of 18. About 14,000 Syrian soldiers were deployed in Lebanon until April 27, 2005, when the last of Syria's troops left the country after three decades.[1]
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 legedly being developed by Syria with the help of North Korea and Iran, according to Zisser.[2]
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 more likely as preparation to take back the Golan Heights at some point in the future.
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[edit] 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, in which the Syrian Army played a part).
[edit] International disputes
Since 1967, most of the Golan Heights territory of South West Syria is under Israeli military occupation. 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.
[edit] Syrian Army
[edit] Current Structure and Organization of the Syrian Army
- 200,000 personnel plus 280,000 conscripts, total 480,000[3]
- 3 Corps HQ (1st, 2nd, and 3rd)
- 7 armoured divisions (apparently 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 11th). [4] 9th Armored Division served in the 1991 Gulf War as the Arab Joint Forces Command North reserve and saw little action.[5]
- 3 understrength mechanised divisions (4th, 7th, and 10th) - each with one mechanized and two motorized brigades
- 4 independent infantry brigades
- 14th Special Forces Division with 3 SF regiments; ten independent regiments
- 2 independent artillery brigades
- 2 independent anti-tank brigades
- Three Surface-to-surface missile brigades (each three battalions)(one brigade with FROG-7, one brigade with SS-21 Scarab, one brigade with Scud-B/C/D)
- Two coastal defence missile brigades (one with 12 SS-C-1B Sepal launchers, one with 12 P-15 Termit launchers, alternative designation SS-C-3 'Styx'). Also they are strong rumors that Syria received C-802 systems and 100 missiles from Iran.
- One border guard brigade
- One Republican Guard division (one artillery regiment, one mechanised brigade, three armoured brigades)
[edit] Syrian Navy
Equipment:
- Frigates:
- 2 Petya II
- Missile Boats:
- Amphibious warfare vessels:
- Mine Warfare vessels :
- 1 Sonya
- 3 Yevgenya
- Naval aviation:
[edit] Syrian 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.[6]
[edit] References and Sources
- ^ CNN, "Last Syrian troops leave Lebanon", April 27, 2005
- ^ "Syria's embrace of WMD" by Eyal Zisser, Globe and Mail, September 28, 2004 (link leads only to abstract; purchase necessary for full article)
- ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2006, p.208-9
- ^ Richard Bennett, The Syrian Military: A Primer, MEIB Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 8, August/September 2001
- ^ Norman Schwarzkopf, It Doesn't Take A Hero, Bantam Books, 1993, p.467-9
- ^ See Syrian Air Force Overview at Scramble and Syrian Arab Airforce at Globalsecurity.org for details of the Syrian Air Force
[edit] 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.
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