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, one division formed from three SDF brigades and a Kobani brigade attached to an Aleppo-affiliated division. 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
- Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — historical Formation
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.
Related organisations
- ISIS remnants (Syria) Opposed · as of 2026-07 · high confidence
Counter-insurgency responsibility in the desert and the east transfers to the state under the January 2026 agreement. Attack tempo fell sharply after the settlement closed the seams between competing authorities; the module treats that as reversible rather than structural.
- Russian military presence — Syria Cooperated with · as of 2026-07 · low confidence
Limited working relationship confined to the future of the Khmeimim air base and the Tartus naval facility, under negotiation with a government Russia's forces bombed until December 2024. Terms, duration and any wider arrangement are unsettled, which is why the edge is graded low.
- Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Institutionally linked to · as of 2026-08 · moderate confidence
Integrating into the Ministry of Defence under the 30 January 2026 agreement as one division formed from three SDF brigades, with a Kobani brigade attached to an Aleppo-affiliated division. Commander Mazloum Abdi stated on 20 August 2026 that the institutional integration phase was complete; Damascus welcomed the statement as an acknowledgement of the SDF's dissolution while officials cautioned that implementation on the ground was unfinished, and reporting in the same period described Hasakah province as still under a divided administration. The two characterisations are incompatible, the constitutional file is open, and the final command relationship is therefore still not an established fact.
- Turkish-backed Syrian factions (SNA lineage) Institutionally linked to · as of 2026-07 · low confidence
Announced as absorbed into the new Ministry of Defence structures in January 2025. The degree of actual integration varies substantially by faction, several retain their own command and patronage arrangements, and UN investigators have reported the participation of government-affiliated forces in the March 2025 coastal violence. Graded low for that reason.
- US anti-ISIS mission in Syria — historical Cooperated with · as of 2026-04 · moderate confidence
Brokered the 30 January 2026 integration agreement between Damascus and the SDF, having spent the preceding decade partnered with the other side of it. The military relationship ended with the completion of the withdrawal in April 2026; residual engagement runs through diplomacy and the sanctions certification cycle.
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
Campaigns
Campaigns naming this organisation as a participant. The campaign record owns the relationship and grades it; this list is computed.
- The anti-ISIS campaign and the residual insurgency Primary force · Since September 2014 · moderate confidence · as of 2026-07
Assumes responsibility for the counter-insurgency and, ultimately, the detention file under the January 2026 agreement. Capacity for it is untested, which is why the edge is graded moderate.
- Israel's southern security campaign Opposing force · Since December 2024 · moderate confidence · as of 2026-07
The relationship is asymmetric and largely non-reciprocal: the transitional government has not responded militarily and is negotiating. The role records who the campaign is directed at, not an engagement between the two.
- Northeast integration Primary force · Since March 2025 · high confidence · as of 2026-07
One of two principals. This campaign is a negotiated contest rather than an engagement between the participants, with the January 2026 fighting as its exception; the roles are read that way.
- Extending state authority Primary force · Since December 2024 · high confidence · as of 2026-07
- Türkiye's northern security campaign Affected party · Since August 2016 · moderate confidence · as of 2026-07
The transitional government inherits a northern border it does not fully administer, and a set of arrangements it did not make.
Key events
The Turkish–Syrian training and advisory memorandum
Türkiye and Syria sign a joint training and advisory memorandum of understanding in Ankara on 13 August 2025. As described in Turkish official material and subsequent reporting it covers training and planning for the reconstituted Syrian army, provision of weapon systems and logistical materiel, and Turkish technical assistance to Syrian military structures and organisation. Implementation runs through 2026: Syrian units train at Turkish Armed Forces facilities, Syrian officer candidates are enrolled at Turkish war colleges across the three services, and Syrian troops take part in Türkiye's EFES-2026 exercise in İzmir in May 2026 — the reconstituted army's first reported participation in an exercise abroad since December 2024. Turkish technical teams are also reported to be repairing runways and control towers at Syrian military airfields; that element is reported rather than officially detailed.
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.
Assessed as of2026-06Last reviewed2026-07-18
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