Syrian Army - Structure in 2001

Structure in 2001

Richard Bennett wrote in 2001 that 'three corps formed in 1985 to give the Army more flexibility and to improve combat efficiency by decentralizing the command structure, absorbing at least some of the lessons learned during the Israeli invasion of the Lebanon in 1982.'

Richard Bennett's estimate of the 2001 order of battle was:

• 1st Corps HQ Damascus, which covered from Golan Heights, the fortified zone and south to Der'a near the Jordanian border.
  • 5th Armoured Division, which included the 17th and 96th Armoured Brigades and the 112th Mechanised Brigade
  • 6th Armoured Division, with the 12th and 98th Armoured Brigades and the 11th Mechanised Brigades
  • 7th Mechanised Division, with the 58th and 68th Armoured Brigades and the 78th Mechanised Brigade
  • 8th Armoured Division, which included the 62nd and 65th Armoured Brigades and the 32nd Mechanised Brigade
  • 9th Armoured Division, with the 43rd and 91st Armoured Brigades and the 52nd Mechanised Brigade. (The 9th Armoured Division served in the 1991 Gulf War as the Arab Joint Forces Command North reserve and saw little action.)

Bennett said the 1st Corps also four independent special forces regiments, including two trained for heliborne commando operations against the Israeli signals intelligence & observation posts on Mount Hermon and elsewhere in the Golan Heights.

• 2nd Corps HQ Zabadani, covers north of Damascus, to Homs and includes Lebanon.
  • Bennett said in 2001 that the corps' principal units believed to include:
  • 1st Armoured Division, with the 44th and 46th Armoured Brigades and the 42nd Mechanised Brigade
  • 3rd Armoured Division, with the 47th and 82nd Armoured Brigades and the 132nd Mechanised Brigade
  • 11th Armoured Division, with the 60th and 67th Armoured Brigades and the 87th Mechanised Brigade
  • 4th Mechanised Division with the 1st Armored Brigade and the 61st and 89th Mechanised Brigades
  • 10th Mechanised Division, headquartered in Shtoura, Lebanon. Its main units deployed to control the strategic Beirut-Damascus highway with the 123rd Mechanised Brigade near Yanta, the 51st Armoured Brigade near Zahle in the Beqaa Valley and the 85th Armoured Brigade.. deployed around the complex of positions at Dahr al-Baidar.
  • three other heavy brigades from the 3rd and 11th Armoured Divisions known to be regularly deployed to eastern Lebanon.
  • there five special forces regiments in the Lebanon.

• 3rd Corps HQ Aleppo, based in the north and Hama, the Turkish and Iraqi borders, the Mediterranean coastline and tasked with protecting the complex of chemical and biological warfare and missile production and launch facilities.
  • The 2nd Reserve Armoured Division, with the 14th and 15th Armoured Brigades and the 19th Mechanised Brigade. The 2nd also believed to operate as the main armoured forces training formation.
  • Other units under the control of this corps four independent infantry brigades, one border guard brigade, one independent armoured regiment, effectively a brigade group, and one special forces regiment.
  • the Coastal Defence Brigade, which largely as an independent unit within the 3rd Corps area, headquartered in the naval base of Latakia with four Coastal Defence Battalions in Latakia, Banias, Hamidieh and Tartous. Each Battalion has four batteries of both the short range SSC-3 Styx and long range SSC-1B Sepal missile systems.

The IISS listed smaller formations in 2006 as:

• Four independent Infantry Brigades
• Ten independent Airborne Special Forces Regiments (Seven regiments attached to 2nd Corps)
• Two independent Artillery Brigades
• Two independent Anti-tank Brigades
• Surface-to-surface Missile Command with three SSM Brigades (each with three SSM battalions),
  • One brigade with FROG-7,
  • One brigade with Scud-B/C/D.
  • One brigade with SS-21 Scarab,
• Three coastal defence missile brigades
  • One brigade with 4 SS-C-1B Sepal launchers,
  • One brigade with 6 P-15 Termit launchers, alternative designation SS-C-3 'Styx'
  • One brigade with 6+ P-800 Oniks launchers,
• One Border Guard Brigade

Protecting Damascus:

• 4th Armoured Division (The Defense companies were transformed into the 569th Armoured Division, which then became the 4th Armoured Division.)
• The Republican Guard Armoured Division, with three Armoured brigades, one Mechanised brigade, and one artillery regiment.

Aleppo is home to the "Al-Assad Military Academy" (Arabic: أكاديمية الأسد للهندسة العسكرية‎).