{"id":39378,"date":"2025-08-25T08:38:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T08:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/963media.com\/en\/?p=39378"},"modified":"2025-10-13T19:20:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T19:20:21","slug":"the-return-of-the-syrian-army-should-anyone-still-be-waiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/963media.com\/en\/25\/08\/2025\/the-return-of-the-syrian-army-should-anyone-still-be-waiting\/","title":{"rendered":"The Return of the \u201cSyrian Army\u201d: Should Anyone Still Be Waiting?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many observers of Syrian affairs, since the fall of Assad\u2019s regime, have considered the merging of the country\u2019s fragmented armed factions into a single, professional army as one of the most important steps toward political transition and state-building. Such a move would consolidate the state\u2019s monopoly over armed force, end the cycle of security chaos, curb extremist elements, and redirect efforts toward combating terrorism; conditions seen as prerequisites for reintegrating Damascus into the international community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, the Syrian Ministry of Defense has announced, more than once, the merging of factions into a unified army under the name \u201cSyrian Army,\u201d since this is the official name of the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, as defined in government documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, many await the return of the \u201cSyrian Army,\u201d albeit in a new form: a professional army with a national combat doctrine. Yet this anticipation may be misplaced. The promised \u201carmy\u201d already exists, here and now. No other force is likely to replace it. Its structures, functions, and ideology can already be discerned from what is unfolding on the ground. Those who wait for something else do so based on imagined ideals or personal aspirations, blinding themselves to the realities of the ruling authority and the systems it has produced.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the very beginning, at what was called the \u201cVictory Conference,\u201d which laid the foundation of Damascus\u2019 new authority, the legitimacy of governance was, in effect, \u201cfactional legitimacy.\u201d A coalition of factions that claimed to have toppled Assad appointed Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (later renamed Ahmad al-Sharaa) as president of Syria, granting him sweeping powers without consulting the broader Syrian people. This arrangement was justified with phrases such as \u201crevolutionary legitimacy\u201d or \u201cpopular support,\u201d though such claims were unverifiable and never gave rise to a genuine political framework with institutions or rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also read: Rebuilding or Rebranding? The Illusion of Syria\u2019s \u201cNew Army\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In practice, this was a factional coup, facilitated by favourable regional and international conditions, and imposed by force on all others; even if it was met with little resistance. The immediate next step was the \u201cdissolution of factions,\u201d including Hay\u2019at Tahrir al-Sham itself. This dissolution was announced at least three more times afterward. Yet, the factions never disappeared. They remain the foundation of the \u201cMinistry of Defense\u201d and continue to play decisive roles in both the politics and military operations of Damascus\u2019 authority. They surface repeatedly in critical contexts: committing \u201cviolations\u201d or \u201cindividual abuses,\u201d and being blamed for war crimes and crimes against humanity, acts that sometimes amount to genocide. Such blame conveniently exonerates the central \u201cleadership in Damascus,\u201d distancing it from responsibility or intent in those atrocities.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does this mean? Does Damascus truly want to integrate the factions but simply fail to do so?<\/span><\/p>\n

Integrating multiple armed groups, with different loyalties and hardened by a brutal civil war, is undeniably difficult for any government. Such efforts often risk renewed bloodshed, as one group attempts to impose dominance over the others. But Damascus shows no serious intent to pursue classical military integration. The problem isn\u2019t fear of intra-factional conflict; rather, the opposite is true. Damascus repeatedly deploys these same \u201cuncontrollable\u201d and crime-tainted factions to extend state authority into sensitive areas. Later, it blames them for \u201cviolations.\u201d This is a striking contradiction: if the state cannot control these factions, why send them into volatile, sectarian sensitive regions? Why insist on expanding state control into new areas before even securing control over its own core armed units?<\/span><\/p>\n

This suggests that discussions about \u201cintegration\u201d are not worth taking at face value. Instead, it is more useful to analyse the actual structure, methods, and doctrine of what is already called the \u201cSyrian Army.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Damascus abolished mandatory conscription, meaning the army is no longer a \u201cpeople\u2019s army\u201d drawing recruits from all communities. Instead, the military now selectively recruits groups deemed acceptable to the ruling authority. The criteria for this selection are clear enough: the \u201cstate\u201d is framed as the state of the majority, having long suffered under the \u201crule of minorities.\u201d As Assad al-Shibani, appointed \u201cforeign minister\u201d by factional legitimacy, openly stated, the new order is one of majoritarian dominance. Reports also indicate that military training is now heavily ideological. Former Syrian officer Ahmad Rahhal, aligned with the opposition, noted that 70% of military instruction consists of \u201creligious courses.\u201d These sessions rarely mention Syria as a nation; rather, they focus on the broader \u201cummah,\u201d and the instructors are not career officers but \u201cmujahideen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet this does not necessarily mean the emergence of a unified, professional \u201cjihadist army\u201d operating in a conventional military style. Such an outcome does not fit the factional and jihadist mentality, nor its operational methods. Instead, what is emerging is a hybrid structure, partly modelled on al-Qaeda and similar jihadist organizations, partly rooted in the Syrian civil war\u2019s factional practices, and adapted to the social and cultural environments from which Syria\u2019s armed groups arise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also read: Are We Fooling Ourselves? The Syrian Illusion After Assad<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This new structure relies on small, flexible armed groups capable of independent action without detailed central orders, but united in purpose. They can mobilize through mechanisms like \u201cgeneral calls to arms\u201d (nafir) or tribal \u201cemergency mobilization\u201d (faz\u2019a), supported by decentralized infrastructures: mosques, self-armed tribal communities, and flexible communication platforms like Telegram.<\/span><\/p>\n

This system serves multiple purposes. First, it enables the dual tactic of \u201cunruly and non-unruly factions.\u201d Highly extremist \u201cdeath squads\u201d are sent into targeted areas to terrorize populations and defenders, breaking morale until communities surrender to the \u201cless extreme\u201d factions; cast as the \u201cgood cops.\u201d This tactic also helps Damascus avoid accountability, as the chain of command is obscured and responsibility is shifted to supposedly \u201cunruly\u201d factions. Even then, these groups are not punished; rather, their leaders are promoted. After massacres in the coastal region, commanders of notorious groups like Al-Amshat and al-Hamzat were elevated to senior positions within the \u201cSyrian Arab Army.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, \u201cunruly factions\u201d are not a burden for Damascus; they are essential to its governance model. They are useful in civil wars and campaigns of mass killing, though ineffective in real wars against external enemies. This points to the reality of Damascus\u2019 military doctrine: its focus is \u201cinternal jihadism,\u201d treating rebellious communities and ethnic or religious minorities as the true enemy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seen in this light, \u201cmerging factions\u201d is not an empty slogan, but a declaration of loyalty. It does not imply dismantling these groups as independent bodies but aligning them under Damascus\u2019 authority. In such a system, loyalty and subordination – not professionalism, not national unity, not the classical concept of a national army – are the decisive factors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, the \u201cSyrian Arab Army\u201d has already returned. It exists now. And given the current factional-jihadist-tribal coalition that rules, this army could never have turned out any other way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many observers of Syrian affairs, since the fall of Assad\u2019s regime, have considered the merging of the country\u2019s fragmented armed factions into a single, professional army as one of the most important steps toward political transition and state-building. Such a move would consolidate the state\u2019s monopoly over armed force, end the cycle of security chaos, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":39379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"0","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"float","share_float_style":"share-normal","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"g:i a d\/m\/Y","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"5","zoom_button_in_step":"4","show_post_tag":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"Merging Factions as a Step Toward Political Transition... or Just Another Illusion?"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,19],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[428],"class_list":["post-39378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","category-slider"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Return of the \u201cSyrian Army\u201d: Should Anyone Still Be Waiting? - 963+<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Syria\u2019s \u201carmy\u201d today is not a unified force but a network of loyalist factions. 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