Field Units of the Syrian Arab Army
Encyclopedia
Active Force Structure
- Three All Arms Army CorpsCorpsA corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
HQ:- 1st Corps HQ DamascusDamascusDamascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, covers from Golan Heights, the fortified zone and south to Der'a near the Jordanian border.- 1st Armoured Division
- 21st Mechanized Brigade
- 51st Armoured Brigade
- 81st Armoured Brigade
- 3rd Armoured Division (Damascus)
- 58th Mechanized Brigade
- 62nd Armoured Brigade
- ???? Armoured Brigade
- ???? Armoured Brigade
- 9th Armoured Division (The 9th Armored Division served in the 1991 Gulf War as the Arab Joint Forces Command North reserve and saw little action.)
- 76th Armoured Brigade
- 85th Mechanized Brigade
- 91st Armoured Brigade
- 4th Mechanized Division
- 7th Mechanized DivisionSyrian 7th Infantry DivisionThe Syrian 7th Infantry Division was a key component of the Syrian attack force in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, involved in some of the heaviest fighting in the Golan Heights, especially in the aptly named 'Valley of Tears'. The division, with its attached armoured brigade, lost a great number of...
- 14th as-SaiqaThunderboltA thunderbolt is a discharge of lightning accompanied by a loud thunderclap or its symbolic representation. In its original usage the word may also have been a description of meteors, or, as Plato suggested in Timaeus, of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies,...
Divisional Command HQ:- 1st AirborneAirborne- Music :* Airbourne , an Australian hard rock band* Airborne , a jazz band based in Connecticut* Airborne * Airborne * Airborne...
Special ForcesSpecial forcesSpecial forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
RegimentRegimentA regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel... - 2nd Airborne Special Forces Regiment
- 3rd Airborne Special Forces Regiment
- 4th Airborne Special Forces Regiment
- 1st Airborne
- 1st Armoured Division
- 2nd Corps HQ ZabadaniZabadaniZabadani is a city in southwestern Syria in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, close to the border with Lebanon. It is located in the center of a green valley surrounded by high mountains at an elevation of around 1,100 m....
, covers north of Damascus, to Homs and includes Lebanon.- 10th Mechanized Division
- Seven independent Airborne Special Forces Regiments
- 3rd Corps HQ AleppoAleppoAleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, based in the north and covers Hama, the Turkish and Iraqi borders, the Mediterranean coastline and is tasked with protecting the complex of CBWCBWCBW may refer to:* CBW , a radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada* CBW-FM, a radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada* Chemical and Biological Weapons/Warfare - see:**Chemical warfare**Biological warfare...
and missile production and launch facilities. Maintains operational control over the Syrian NavySyrian NavyThe Syrian Navy is the smallest of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is under the Syrian Army's Latakia regional command with the fleet based in the ports of Baniyas, Latakia, Minat al Bayda, and Tartus.- History :...
- 5th Armoured Division (The 5th Division, at that time an infantry formation, invaded JordanJordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
during the events of Black September in JordanBlack September in JordanSeptember 1970 is known as the Black September in Arab history and sometimes is referred to as the "era of regrettable events." It was a month when Hashemite King Hussein of Jordan moved to quash the militancy of Palestinian organizations and restore his monarchy's rule over the country. The...
, 1970. It was reinforced with two armoured brigades. After an ineffectual defence by the massively outnumbered Jordanian 40th Armoured Brigade, the 5th Division's attack was repelled on 22 September 1970 mostly through the efforts of the Royal Jordanian Air ForceRoyal Jordanian Air ForceThe Royal Jordanian Air Force is the air force branch of the Jordanian Armed Forces.-Early days:...
.) - 6th Armoured Division
- 8th Armoured Division
- 11th Armoured Division
- 5th Armoured Division (The 5th Division, at that time an infantry formation, invaded Jordan
- 1st Corps HQ Damascus
- Four independent InfantryInfantryInfantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
BrigadeBrigadeA brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s - Ten independent Airborne Special Forces Regiments (Seven regiments attached to 2nd corps)
- Two independent ArtilleryArtilleryOriginally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
BrigadeBrigadeA brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s - Two independent Anti-tank BrigadeBrigadeA brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s - Surface-to-surface Missile Command with three SSMSurface-to-surface missileA surface-to-surface missile is a guided projectile launched from a hand-held, vehicle mounted, trailer mounted or fixed installation or from a ship. They are often powered by a rocket motor or sometimes fired by an explosive charge, since the launching platform is typically stationary or moving...
BrigadeBrigadeA brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s (each with three SSM battalionBattalionA battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s),- One brigade with FROG-7FROG-7The 9K52 Luna-M is a Soviet short-range ballistic missile complex. The 9M21 missiles are unguided and spin-stabilized. "9K52" is its GRAU designation. Its NATO reporting name is FROG-7....
, - One brigade with ScudScudScud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and exported widely to other countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name SS-1 Scud which was attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies...
-B/C/D. - One brigade with SS-21 Scarab,
- One brigade with FROG-7
- Three coastal defence missile brigades (Also they are strong rumors that Syria received C-802C-802The Yingji-82 or YJ-82 is a Chinese anti-ship missile first unveiled in 1989 by the China Haiying Electro-Mechanical Technology Academy , also known as the Third Academy...
systems and 100 missiles from Iran.):- One brigade with 4 SS-C-1B Sepal launchers,
- One brigade with 6 P-15 TermitP-15 TermitThe P-15 Termit is an anti-ship missile developed by the Soviet Union's Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was 4K40, its NATO reporting name was Styx or SS-N-2. In Russian service today it also seems to be called the Rubezh...
launchers, alternative designation SS-C-3 'Styx' - One brigade with 6+ P-800 OniksP-800 OniksThe P-800 Oniks for export markets; "Oniks" is onyx, and "Yakhont" is ruby or sapphire in English) is a Russian supersonic anti-ship cruise missile developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya as a ramjet version of P-80 Zubr. Its GRAU designation is 3M55...
launchers,
- One Border GuardBorder guardThe border guard, frontier guard, border patrol, border police, or frontier police of a country is a national security agency that performs border control, i.e., enforces the security of the country's national borders....
BrigadeBrigadeA brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
Protecting Damascus:
- 4th Armoured Division (The Defense companiesDefense companiesThe Defense Companies were a paramilitary force in Syria that were controlled by Rifaat al-Assad. Their task was to defend the Assad government, and Damascus, from internal and external attack...
were transformed into the 569th Armoured Division, which then became the 4th Armoured Division.) - The Republican GuardSyrian Republican GuardThe Syrian Republican Guard is a 10,000 man bodyguard unit of the Syrian Army. They are a single armored division used to protect the capital, Damascus from any domestic threats. The Guard is the only Syrian military unit allowed within the capital....
Armoured Division:- Three Armoured brigades
- One Mechanized brigade
- One Artillery regiment
Reserve Force Structure
- 2nd Armoured Division (Aleppo)
- 12th Motorized Division
- 13th Motorized Division
The two Motorized Division will be formed from the best of the following:
- Two Armoured Brigades
- Two independent Armoured Regiments
- Thirty Infantry Brigades
- Three Artillery Brigades
Further reading
- Tom Cooper, Syrian Tank-Hunters in Lebanon, 1982, Air Combat Information Group