Editing Syrian Armed Forces (section)

== Structure ==
[[Image:Syrian soldier aims an AK-47.JPEG|thumb|220px|A Syrian soldier aims a [[Type 56]] assault rifle from a foxhole during a military activity demonstration in Saudi Arabia in 1990. The soldier is wearing a Soviet-made Model ShMS nuclear-biological-chemical warfare mask.]]

=== Army ===
The [[Syrian Army]] was historically the dominant military service, controlled the seniormost posts in the armed forces, and had approximately 80% of the armed forces' personnel. In 1987 Joshua Sinai wrote that the major recent structural developments were the establishment of a [[special forces]] division (the [[14th Special Forces Division]]) and the organization of ground formations into three corps.{{sfn|Sinai|1987}} In 2010, the [[International Institute for Strategic Studies]] estimated army regulars or professionals at 220,000, with an additional 280,000 reserves. That figure was unchanged in the 2011 edition of the ''Military Balance'',{{sfn|IISS|2011|p=330}} but in the 2013 edition, during the war, the IISS estimated that army strength was 110,000.{{sfn|IISS|2019|p=368}} By the end of 2018, analysts estimated the SAA to have just 100,000 combat-ready troops.{{sfn|IISS|2019|p=368}}

After the beginning of the [[Syrian Civil War]], Syrian military enlisted strength dropped by over half from a pre-civil war figure of 325,000 to 150,000 soldiers in the army in December 2014 due to casualties, [[desertions]] and [[draft dodging]],<ref name="SCMP2014">{{cite news| url=http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1670515/syria-increasing-efforts-build-military-after-substantial-loses| title=Syria increasing efforts to build up military after substantial losses| newspaper=South China Morning Post| date=29 December 2014| access-date=29 December 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230104413/http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1670515/syria-increasing-efforts-build-military-after-substantial-loses| archive-date=30 December 2014| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}</ref> reaching between 178,000 and 220,000 soldiers in the army,<ref>[[The Daily Star (Lebanon)|Daily Star]] 23 September 2014</ref> in addition to 80,000 to 100,000 irregular forces. By 2023, the number of active Syrian soldiers had increased to 170,000,<ref name="Military Balance 2023">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1372013483 |title=The Military Balance 2023 |date=2023 |editor=James Hackett, International Institute for Strategic Studies |isbn=978-1-003-40022-6 |location=London |oclc=1372013483}}</ref> but the number of active paramilitary and reserve forces may have decreased by as much as 50,000.

=== Air Force ===
The [[Syrian Air Force]] was established in 1948, and first saw action in the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]. Under Ba'athist Syria until 2024 it was known as the Syrian Arab Air Force. Land-based air defence systems were grouped under the [[Syrian Air Defence Force]], separate from both the Air Force and the Army. The air force was [[2024 Israeli invasion of Syria|nearly destroyed]] by the [[Israeli Defence Force]] in December 2024, following the [[Fall of the Assad regime|collapse of the Assad regime]].

=== Navy ===
The [[Syrian Navy]] was established in 1950, and saw action in the [[Yom Kippur War]] and the [[Syrian civil war]].

=== Major officials and units, March 2025 ===
{| class="wikitable"
!Role/Unit
!Name/Commander
!Notes
|-
! colspan="3" |Minister of Defense
|-
|Minister of Defense
|Major General [[Murhaf Abu Qasra]]
|<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Zelin |first=Aaron Y. |title=Every Known Position In The New Syrian Government |url=https://www.jihadologyplus.com/p/every-known-position-in-the-new-syrian |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Jihadology+ |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|Chief of Staff
|Major General [[Ali Noureddine al-Naasan]]
|<ref name=":1" />
|-
|Spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense
|Colonel [[Hassan Abdel Ghani|Hassan Abdul Ghani]]
|<ref name=":1" />
|-
|Head of Officer Affairs
|Brigadier General Mohammed Mansour
|<ref name=":1" />
|-
|Committee Official in the Military Operations Department
|Abu ‘Ubaydah al-Shami
|<ref name=":1" />
|-
|Head of the Medical Administration
|Dr. Ahmed al-Youssef
|<ref name=":1" />
|-
|Director of the Higher Military Academy in the Syrian Ministry of Defense
|Brigadier General [[Fadlallah al-Haji|Fadlallah al-Hajji]]
|<ref name=":1" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Armed Forces
|-
! colspan="3" |Latakia
|-
|400th Division (from HTS)
|
|<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Waters |first=Gregory |title=The New Syrian Army: Structure and Commanders |url=https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/the-new-syrian-army-structure-and |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=www.syriarevisited.com |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|56th Reserve Division
|Colonel Tariq Solaq
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|Coastal Division (NLF)
|Lt Colonel Muhammad Haj Ali
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Aleppo
|-
|80th Division
|Brigadier Ahmed Rizk
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|76th Division
|Brigadier General [[Sayf Bulad|Saif Bulad]]
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|72nd Division
|
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Hama
|-
|82nd Division
|Brigadier Khaled Al-Halabi Abu Khattab
|<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" />
|-
|74th Division
|Brigadier General Jameel al-Saleh
|<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" />
|-
|60th Division (SNA)
|Fadi Zouda
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|54th Division
|Brigadier Hussein Abdullah Al-Ubaid Abu Suhaib
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Dara’a
|-
|40th Division
|Colonel [[Binyan Al-Hariri]]
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Damascus
|-
|77th Division (SNA)
|Sheikh Abu Adnan al-Zabadani
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|70th Division
|[[Essam al-Buwaydhani|Issam Bouidani]]
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|Damascus Division
|
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Idlib
|-
|64th Division
|Muhammad Ahmad al-Gharib
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Homs
|-
|52nd Division
|
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Badia
|-
|118th Division
|Raed Arab
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|42nd Division
|Major Mohammed Saeed Abdullah 
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Eastern Syria
|-
|66th Division
|Colonel Ahmed Al-Muhammad
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
! colspan="3" |Other Divisions
|-
|128th Division (HTS)
|
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|111th Division (HTS)
|
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|98th Armored Division
|
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|62nd Division (SNA)
|
|<ref name=":2" />
|-
|Zubair bin al-Awwam Brigade
|
|<ref name=":2" />
|}