Algerian Land Forces

Algerian Land Forces
القوات البرية الجزائرية (Arabic)
Forces Terrestres Algériennes (French)
Founded1962
(Formerly the Armée de Libération Nationale)
Country Algeria
BranchArmy
RoleLand warfare
Size137,000 or 220,000[1]
Part ofAlgerian People's National Army
HeadquartersAlgiers
WebsiteOfficial website
Commanders
Chief of StaffSaïd Chengriha
Commander, Land ForcesMajor General Ammar Atamnia

The Algerian Land Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية الجزائرية, lit. 'Algerian Land Forces', French: Forces Terrestres Algériennes) are the land forces of the Algerian People's National Army. The forces' equipment is mostly supplied by Russia and China.

The forces include two armoured and two mechanised divisions,[2] one of which is the 8th Armoured Division based at Ras El Ma, 90 kilometres from Sidi Bel Abbes,[3] in the 2nd Military Region. The division was formed from the 8th Armoured Brigade after 1988 (the 8th Armoured Brigade seems to have been formed in 1976). The other armoured division was named by IISS 2017 as the 1st. Another is the 40th Mechanised Infantry Division apparently based in the 3rd Military Region. The mission of the 40th Division is usually the protection of the Algerian-Moroccan frontier.[4] The IISS Military Balance 2013 named the other mechanised division as the 12th. There may be a single independent armoured brigade, the 41st Armoured Brigade in the In Amenas area, and the IISS said in 2020 that the 38th Motorised Brigade was located at Tindouf.[5]

There have also been French reports of an airborne division formed in the early 1990s.[6] This formation, the 17th Parachute Division, with five airborne regiments, seemingly similar to the French reporting, was listed in the IISS Military Balance for 2001-02 and 2006, but not listed in the 2007 edition. It was listed with four regiments and a special forces regiment in the 2017 edition (p. 368).

  1. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies (25 February 2021). The Military Balance 2021. London: Routledge. p. 329. ISBN 9781032012278.
  2. ^ IISS Military Balance 2020, p.340, down from two armoured and three mechanised divisions reported by IISS MB 2007
  3. ^ Le Soir Algerie, Voyage au cœur de la 8e Division blindée Archived 2015-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, 1997; also IISS Military Balance 2020, p.337
  4. ^ http://www.algeria-watch.org/pdf/pdf_en/forces_repression.pdf Archived 2024-05-22 at the Wayback Machine; http://www.algeria-watch.org/fr/mrv/mrvmili/tigha_patriotes.htm Archived 2024-05-22 at the Wayback Machine; IISS Military Balance 2020, p.337 named the division's base as Bechar.
  5. ^ IISS Military Balance 2020, p.337
  6. ^ Centre Francais de recherche sur la reseignement, Bulletin de documentation 5 Archived 2015-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, accessed January 2014.