GEOGRAPHY
Size: About 185,180 square kilometers.
Topography: Country consists of coastal zone divided by narrow
double mountain range from large eastern region that includes various mountain
ranges, large desert regions, and Euphrates River basin.
TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Roads: In 1985 over 25,000 kilometers of roads, 18,000 of which
were paved. Main areas linked, but network required continuous and intensive
development.
Railroads: 2,013 kilometers in 1984. Standard gauge (1,686 kilometers)
crossed northern part of country from coast to Iraq border in northeast
(via Aleppo). Narrow gauge in southwest served Damascus with tracks into
Lebanon and Jordan.
Ports: Tartus most important--8.8 million tons of cargo in 1984.
Also served as country's crude oil export terminal. Latakia handled 1.7
million tons of cargo in 1984. Baniyas was oil port and site of large refinery.
Pipelines: Two international crude-oil pipelines, one from Iraq
and one from Saudi Arabia, both terminating in Lebanon. Domestic crude-oil
pipeline from oil fields in northeast to port of Tartus via Homs (refinery).
Three lines for petroleum products from Homs refinery to Damascus, Aleppo,
and Latakia.
Communications: Good domestic and international telecommunications
service.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Government: Governmental system based on Permanent Constitution
of March 13, 1973. Theoretically, power divided into executive, legislative,
and judicial spheres, but all institutions overshadowed by preeminence
of president (reelected February 10, 1985, in national referendum for seven-year
term), who was head of state, chief executive, and secretary of ruling
Baath (Arab Socialist Resurrection) Party. People's Council, 195- member
parliament, popularly elected in 1986 for term of four years. Judiciary
based on amalgam of Ottoman, French, and Islamic laws and practices. Some
legal rights abrogated under state of martial law, in effect since 1963.
Politics: Baath Party--popular name for ruling party-- provided
ideological rationale for Syrian socialism and panArabism . Directed by
twenty-one-member Regional Command (top national decision-making body of
party) led by regional secretary. Party allied in coalition with minor
parties (including communist) through framework of National Progressive
Front. Dominant aspect of political system pivotal role of military as
real source and guarantor of power. Disproportionately significant role
played by country's largest minority, Alawis, who held many key positions
in armed forces, Baath Party, and government.
Administrative Divisions: Divided into thirteen provinces, each
consisting of capital, districts, and subdistricts.
Foreign Affairs: Arab-Israeli conflict remained paramount foreign
policy concern, Syrian objective being to secure withdrawal of Israeli
forces from the occupied territories, to restore sovereignty over Israeli-annexed
Golan Heights, and to ensure full political self-determination for Palestinians.
In attempting to resolve Arab-Israeli issue, Syria seeks unilateral strategic
and military parity with Israel to negotiate from position of strength.
Syria attempts to exert regional dominance over its Arab neighbors, focusing
on Lebanon, which it has partially occupied since 1976.
The Army
In 1987, the army was overwhelmingly the dominant service. In addition
to its control of the seniormost posts in the armed forces' establishment,
the army had the largest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the combined
services. In 1985 army regulars were estimated at 396,000, with an additional
300,000 reserves. The army had nine divisional formations. The major development
in force organization was establishment of an additional divisional framework
based on the special forces and organization of ground formations into
two corps. The army's active manpower served in two all-arms army corps,
five armored divisions (with one independent armored brigade), three mechanized
divisions, one infantry-special forces division, and ten airborne-special
forces independent brigades.
In addition to being the largest, the army was the best equipped of
the three services, with over 4,100 Soviet-built tanks (including 1,000
of the advanced T-72's) and a formidable air defense system of SAM batteries
and myriad antiaircraft guns and artillery. In 1987, Syria was scheduled
to receive 500 new Soviet SS-23 ballistic missiles with a range of 500
kilometers. Syria was also reported to have begun producing its own chemical
weapons, including nerve gases, with the capability to use the chemical
agents in missile warheads. The Air Defense Command, within the Army Command,
but also composed of Air Force personnel, numbered approximately 60,000.
It served in twenty air defense brigades (with approximately ninety-five
SAM batteries) and two air defense regiments. The Air Defense Command had
command access to interceptor aircraft and radar facilities. Air defenses
included SA-5 long-range SAM batteries around Damascus and Aleppo, with
additional SA-6 and SA-8 mobile SAM units deployed along Syria's side of
the Lebanese border and in eastern Lebanon, and short-range SS-21 surface-to-surface
missiles with conventional warheads. The 1,800-man Border Guard (sometimes
designated as Desert Guard or Frontier Force) was also under Army Command
and responsible for patrolling the nation's vast border areas .
Organization and Disposition
By 1987, the Syrian armed forces were increasingly professional and
well-equipped. The Syrian armed forces totaled 500,000 regulars and 340,000
reservists in 1985. These figures represented a tremendous expansion in
the manpower, training, and equipment, achieved with considerable financial
and military aid from the Arab states and the Soviet Union and several
of its East European allies. By early 1987, the vast majority of Syrian
military equipment was Soviet manufactured and the organization and military
doctrine of the armed forces followed the Soviet model.
President Assad was commander in chief of the armed forces, retaining
the rank of lieutenant general. Directly responsible to Assad was the flamboyant
Deputy Premier and Defense Minister General Mustafa Tlas, who also held
the title of deputy commander in chief of the armed forces and army. Although
a Sunni Muslim, Tlas has been a close friend of Assad since they were deputed
as officers to the Egyptian Army (1959-61). Tlas was jailed for his part
in an abortive officers' coup in 1962-63 in cooperation with Assad and
later helped bring Assad to power. A tank commander, he was appointed lieutenant
general and, in March 1972, minister of defense. He received general staff
training in Moscow at the Voroshilov Academy and advocates close ties with
the Soviet Union and a hard line on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Vice president
for military and national security affairs was the president's brother,
the volatile Rifaat al Assad. As a result of political infighting over
the issue of succession to Assad, Rifaat was living in temporary exile
in France in early 1987. Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Armed
Forces Lieutenant General Hikmat Shihabi was third in command. General
Ali Aslan was deputy chief of the general staff. Commander of the ground
forces was Major General Yusuf Bin Raghib Shakur. The air force retained
its own commander, Major General Ibrahim Hassan. The navy commander was
Rear Admiral Mustafa Tayara.
The chief of staff of the armed forces functions through the general
staff, an administrative body that is divided into the usual branches,
such as personnel, intelligence, training, and logistics. The general staff
does not possess decision-making powers; these are largely confined to
the commanders and chiefs of staff acting on behalf of the president. In
1970 a "political department" was established "to guide members of the
armed forces ideologically and to instill in them loyalty toward the present
regime."
Special Operations Forces
Republican Guard
Syria also had a Republican Guard, which was responsible for Assad's
security. Together with the Defense Companies, the Republican Guard provided
bodyguards assigned on the basis of personal loyalties and affiliations
to leading members of the regime and top officials. The Republican Guard
was commanded by Adnan Makhluf, the president's brother-in-law. Political
allies and associates of Rifaat al Assad, on the other hand, were given
bodyguards from the Defense Companies.
As Saiqa
A third organization, As Saiqa (The Thunderbolt), was formed in 1966
by the pro-Syrian Baath Party National Conference as a military wing of
the Palestinian faction of the Syrian Baath Party. Although ostensibly
under the umbrella of the PLO (it is represented on the PLO Executive Committee
and Military Department), As Saiqa was firmly under Syrian Army control.
In 1987 As Saiqa was led by three officials: Isam al Qadi, the secretary
general, Muhammad al Khalifa, the representative on the PLO Executive Committee
and Military Department, and Majid Muhsin, the head of operations in Lebanon.
Muhsin was the brother of Zuhair Muhsin, who was appointed head of As Saiqa
in 1970 by Assad, following the new regime's purge of its Palestinian leadership
in an attempt to place As Saiqa firmly under Syrian Army control. Zuhair
Muhsin was killed in July 1979 by an unknown assailant in Cannes, France.
As Saiqa's Palestinian credentials have depended on its ability to balance
its PLO activities with the state policies of its Baathist Syrian sponsors.
As Saiqa's special units participated on Syria's behalf in some of the
Syrian-Palestinian clashes during the Lebanese Civil War, in particular
in the Syrian siege of Damur, previously a Maronite township, but later
occupied by the PLO and the Palestinians, who had set up camps and headquarters
there. Many of As Saiqa's troops defected to other Palestinian guerrilla
groups during these clashes in early June 1976. In July-August 1976, the
troops that remained switched sides and assisted in the defense of the
Palestinian Tall az Zaatar refugee camp against Phalangist attack. Units
of As Saiqa participated in the Syrian-backed 1983 armed rebellion against
Arafat's leadership by dissident elements within the PLO. By 1983, observers
estimated that 70 percent of As Saiqa's members were Syrians.
DEFENSE INDUSTRY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
In 1987, the Assad government controlled or sponsored several important
special military units in addition to the regular armed forces. Until they
were disbanded and reorganized as a standard division in 1984, the most
important special forces were the Defense Companies, which consisted of
about 15,000 to 25,000 specially trained and equipped officers and men.
Established in 1971, the Defense Companies were organizationally independent
of the regular armed forces and under the command of Rifaat al Assad, the
president's brother. In 1984 Rifaat was relieved of his command and replaced
by Lieutenant Colonel Mu'in Nassif, his deputy commander and brother-in-law.
Nassif, in turn, was replaced by General Hikmat Ibrahim. Foreign observers
viewed this elite military unit as the president's private army.
Defense Company personnel were recruited independently of the regular
armed forces. Recruitment was believed to be predominantly among Alawis,
the ethnic community presumed most loyal to Assad. Observers reported that
the Defense Companies were equipped with some of the most modern weapons
available to the Syrian Army, including T-72M tanks, SAMs, and attack helicopters,
and could call on regular forces for logistical help and military support.
The Defense Companies were garrisoned outside Damascus, presumably with
the primary mission of countering attempted coups or other challenges to
the central government. These special forces, however, also had military
missions beyond the role of a praetorian guard. For example, they acquired
combat experience during Syria's first armed intervention in Lebanon (June-October
1976). Defense Companies units also were involved in internal security,
such as carrying out house-to-house searches during the nationwide strikes
and demonstrations in Aleppo in March 1980 and in June 1980 killing between
600 and 1,000 Tadmur Prison inmates suspected of belonging to the banned
Muslim Brotherhood. In 1982 units were deployed in Hamah during the armed
uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, and they participated in the massacre
of 10,000 to 25,000 civilians there.
The Defense Companies have also been deployed against Jordan. In late
February 1981, some of their senior commanders, including Colonel Adnan
Barakat, were alleged to have been involved in an abortive assassination
attempt against Jordanian Prime Minister Mudir Badran. Members of the Defense
Companies also reportedly have been sent abroad to monitor Syrian political
exiles and to impede their activities. In Lebanon, Defense Companies units
have supported pro-Syrian Lebanese militias, such as the Tripoli-based
Arab Knights of the Arab Democratic Party (founded in 1981 by Rifaat al
Assad and composed largely of Lebanese Alawis of Syrian origin), and the
Lebanese Baath Party and its militia, the Assad Battalion. Following a
power struggle between Rifaat al Assad and his rivals in the armed forces
in early 1984, the Defense Companies were renamed Unit 569 and reorganized
as a standard armored division with four armored and three mechanized brigades.
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