Syrian state forces (Ministry of Defence)
The new national military being assembled since January 2025 from the victorious factions, HTS-derived formations, integrating SDF divisions and vetted personnel — replacing the dissolved Assad-era army rather than inheriting it. Described at structural level only.
Broad area of activity
Nationwide in principle; consolidation deepest in the western spine and, since January 2026, the east. Described at national scale only.
Notable history
Announced with the January 2025 dissolution of HTS, the factions and the former regime's army: a new Ministry of Defence absorbing the victors first and its former adversaries by agreement — including, from January 2026, three SDF divisions and two specialised brigades. The March 2025 coastal violence, in which UN investigators found members of interim-government forces among the perpetrators, made command discipline and accountability the institution's defining early test.
Strengths
Battle-hardened core formations; political backing of the presidency; external training and equipment interest from Türkiye and Gulf states; the legitimacy dividend of the integration agreements.
Limitations
Factional identities persisting beneath new insignia; vetting and discipline gaps demonstrated on the coast in March 2025; equipment losses from the Israeli strike campaign; budget dependence on a state without fiscal depth.
Subordinate & associated
Reported & historical equipment associations
T-72 family: Assad-era armour stocks — much destroyed, captured or degraded through the war and the December 2024 Israeli strike campaign; surviving inventory under the new MoD is publicly uncertain.
Lineage & institutional history
Predecessors: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — historical · Syrian Arab Army (Assad-era) — dissolved January 2025 · Turkish-backed and other opposition factions (partial absorption)
Related locations
Key events
The January 2026 northeast fighting
After integration talks end without breakthrough, fighting erupts in Aleppo and spreads across the north and east; government forces and allied factions take Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor as Arab tribal components defect from the SDF, which withdraws toward Hasakah and Qamishli. Reported casualties run into the hundreds; each side blames the other for the collapse of the talks.