Enab Baladi – Omar Alaa Eldin
The Syrian Ministry of Defense is working on establishing the nucleus of the new army, following the announcement in the Victory Speech about the dissolution of the former army and security apparatuses under the ousted Assad regime on January 29.
Analyses and speculations are circulating regarding the mechanisms for forming the new Syrian army and the difficulties facing this process, especially the integration of armed groups and the joining of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in this process as well.
This process is taking place while Ankara is moving with military and security agreements with Damascus, as the Turkish military attaché, Colonel Hasan Göz, officially began his work on March 5. Ankara has also expressed its willingness on several occasions to support the Syrian army and assist it, should Damascus request such support.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense has not announced the progress of the restructuring process, while leaks indicate the naming of leaders from the factions as leaders of divisions and formations in the army, including Mohammed al-Jassem (Abu Amsha) and Saif al-Din Bolad (Abu Bakr).
Enab Baladi contacted the Syrian Ministry of Defense and inquired about the completed steps in establishing the Syrian army, but the ministry confined its response to statements made by Defense Minister, General Murhaf Abu Qasra.
Military affairs researcher and field affairs expert at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, Nawar Shaaban, believes that the Ministry of Defense needs to establish several agreements with neighboring countries to ensure border security, while the integration of factions and other military blocs in Syria requires very complex technical steps and significant time and effort.
What the government has announced
On March 16 of this month, the head of officers’ affairs in the Syrian Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General Mohammad Mansour, stated that the ministry is putting mechanisms in place to ensure that the army benefits optimally from the experiences of defected officers, considering them an integral part of the military institution whose contributions should be honored and valued.
Mansour confirmed, in statements to the official Syrian News Agency (SANA), that the rebuilding of the Syrian Arab Army relies on a mix of experience and updates, clarifying that the defected officers possess valuable field experiences that will be utilized according to their specialties and the Armed Forces’ needs, to ensure the transfer of their knowledge to new generations, enhancing combat readiness and solidifying the Syrian military doctrine based on defending the country and its sovereignty; these officers will play a fundamental and pivotal role.
On February 7 of the last month, Syrian Defense Minister Abu Qasra told The Washington Post that around 100 armed factions in Syria have agreed to join the Ministry of Defense.
The ministry has repeatedly announced meetings held by Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Syrian Chief of Staff Ali al-Nasaan with several military leaders to follow up on the integration process of the military factions into the Ministry of Defense.
On January 21 of the last month, Abu Qasra, in an interview with Al-Majalla magazine, stated that efforts are underway to build an army loved by the people, and that the restructuring of the Syrian Arab Army will be according to laws that outline the general path for building the military institution, and according to Abu Qasra, “Our priorities now are to transition the factions towards the military institution and to also distribute these military forces according to Syrian geography.”
The Syrian Defense Minister clarified that he has phased objectives to be accomplished every six months, with priorities being revisited after completing the first phase for transitioning to subsequent phases, indicating a shift from meetings with military factions to practical steps.
A complex and difficult process
Military researcher Nawar Shaaban views the main difficulties facing the formation of the new Syrian army as fragmentation and the continued presence of the factional scene in certain areas.
He attributes this to the fact that during the liberation process, there was no single military bloc under one leading command; instead, multiple factions participated in the battle, such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Syrian National Army, the National Front, Free Syrian Army, factions in the south, and fighters in al-Tanf, along with settlement factions and the SDF.
According to Shaaban, each faction has its own characteristics and organization, imposing significant effort and time on the process of reintegrating and organizing the new military entity. The factions that attended the Victory Conference announced their approval for integration, but the technical steps remain unclear, while the process of forming several brigades and appointing leaders for them has begun.
The military researcher believes that the file of defectors is sensitive, and they can be classified into two types: those who were involved in military work with factions and those who were residing in the defectors’ camp near the Turkish border, where their military experience has not been utilized for many years.
There needs to be re-evaluation of who is useful at this stage, noting that this doesn’t mean that all defectors should be part of the new military structure.
According to the researcher, the process first requires identifying existing expertise and then applying programs like DDR, SDR, and Reforming.
What is DDR?
DDR in military sciences stands for Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration, referring to disarmament, troop demobilization, and reintegration processes.
It may be important to consider the feasibility of applying DDR as part of a long-term strategy in the Syrian situation, despite the challenges involved due to unsuccessful experiences in some Arab countries recovering from revolutions, as well as the complex nature of the Syrian case, according to a report by the Syrian Dialogue Center.
According to the report, the main components of DDR programs include:
Collecting heavy and light weapons from all parties and establishing plans for the management of collected weapons to ensure they are not reused, with monitoring of delivery operations by neutral parties to ensure transparency.
Demobilizing fighters from factions and providing awareness programs to integrate them into society, as well as offering temporary financial or in-kind assistance to facilitate the transition from military to civilian life.
Reintegration through professional skills training for former fighters from military factions, in addition to efforts to incorporate them into economic programs and support communities hosting fighters to ensure social coexistence.
Restructuring the army
Researcher Nawar Shaaban, during his conversation with Enab Baladi, emphasized the necessity of organizing the military structure to sync with the scale of internal dangers currently facing Syria, believing that the Ministry of Defense must develop its structure, discipline, and combat doctrine.
The researcher believes that it is crucial to expedite the organizational file and establish a hierarchical command structure swiftly, followed by addressing other files.
It is difficult to predict the timeframe for a process in which the Syrian army matches its counterparts in the region, according to the military researcher. However, the current forces of the Ministry of Defense can handle crises arising in various geographical areas of Syria, though this format is insufficient, requiring further development.
The researcher believes that the current combat doctrine of the Syrian army will focus on internal deterrence, as “we do not have the capability for external deterrence,” in his words.
On February 5, a knowledgeable military source reported that the Syrian Ministry of Defense had entrusted the task of establishing the new army to restructuring and appointing committees, each with complete independence, aimed at merging factions of the revolution into one army.
The source informed Al-Jazeera Net that the restructuring committee is chaired by Brigadier General Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Khateeb, which has given rise to a special committee tasked with conducting a comprehensive inventory of all factions, counting their personnel and the weapons they possess, in preparation for their integration into the armed forces.
The inventory committee adopted strict mechanisms to regulate the number of members from each faction and prevent manipulation or the fraudulent inclusion of names, such as requiring the pairing of a weapon number with the fighter’s name, and if a name is present without a specific weapon number, it would be referred for individual enrollment and not counted among the names recommended by the faction.
The appointments committee is led by Chief of Staff General Ali Nour al-Din al-Nasaan, which is responsible for appointing division commanders and senior officials in the army, with a predominance of technical military experts known for their war planning and execution skills.
SDF and other formations
Regarding the situation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), researcher Nawar Shaaban considers their integration into the Syrian Ministry of Defense to be more complicated than any existing military bloc in Syria.
Shaaban attributes this to the fact that the SDF comprises several formations, most notably the People’s Protection Units (YPG), Arab formations, the Global Khabour which includes foreign fighters, Asayish, and military councils in Deir Ezzor, among others.
On March 10 of this month, the transitional president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and SDF leader, Mazloum Abdi, signed an agreement to merge the civilian and military institutions in northeastern Syria affiliated with the SDF into the state administration of Syria.
On March 13 of this month, spokesperson for the Democratic North Forces affiliated with the SDF, Mahmoud Habib, stated to the Jordanian Al-Mamlaka channel that committees will be formed to discuss all security, military, administrative, and governmental issues, noting they will reach “an outcome that satisfies everyone. There shouldn’t be a victor and a vanquished in Syria.”
Habib clarified that the Democratic North Forces will be part of the Syrian Ministry of Defense, which controls approximately one-third of Syrian territory and includes detention facilities for individuals belonging to the Islamic State group and camps for their families.
For its part, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Defense stated that a committee will be formed to integrate the SDF into the structure of the Syrian army.
Joint defense
It appears that military cooperation between Syria and Turkey, should it occur, will enhance the combat experience of the new Syrian army, as stated by the director of the Rasad Center for Strategic Studies, Brigadier General Abdullah al-Asaad.
Al-Asaad believes, in his talk with Enab Baladi, that a mutual defense agreement between Syria and Turkey is likely, affirming that it will assist in familiarizing Syrian officers and non-commissioned officers through training them according to advanced combat curricula supervised by Turkish officers.
Additionally, signing this agreement, according to al-Asaad, will help solidify the foundations of the Syrian military institution and enhance discipline within it.
Moreover, military researcher Nawar Shaaban confirmed during his conversation with Enab Baladi that it is essential to establish agreements with Syria’s neighboring countries (Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq) due to their crucial roles in securing the borders.
The Syrian researcher opines that military cooperation with Turkey would be beneficial, as Turkish experiences could prevent the escalation of potential security threats against the Syrian state and keep them within a particular geographic scope, especially regarding reconnaissance capabilities similar to what occurred in the coast region.
Shaaban also believes that military collaboration with Turkey will yield results in many areas, particularly in terms of unmanned aerial capabilities.
The Turkish Hürriyet newspaper reported on March 17 of this month that Turkey intends to appoint a military advisor to the new Syrian army in the upcoming phase, in light of Ankara’s commitment to support its neighbor’s capabilities in security and defense.
It added that Turkey intends to contribute to restructuring the Syrian army and supplying it with advanced products from its defense industry to enhance its capabilities, noting that a Turkish military advisor will also be appointed to the Syrian army, alongside the Turkish military attaché already present in Damascus.
Complex steps to establish new Syrian army Enab Baladi.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Complex steps to establish new Syrian army )
Also on site :
- Several police cars involved in major A1 crash with Newcastle road closed
- 40-yr-old woman elopes with would-be son-in-law days before wedding
- Delta can’t stick by previous outlook for 2025 and says growth has stalled in trade war