Syrian Army

Syrian Army
الجيش العربي السوري‎
Syrian Arab Army Flag
Founded	1 August 1945[1] 1971 (current form)
Country	Syria
Type	Army
Role	Land warfare
Size	130,000[2] Military age: 18 Conscription: 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation is 18 months; women are not conscripted but may volunteer to serve; re-enlistment obligation 5 years, with retirement after 15 years or age 40 (enlisted) or 20 years or age 45 [3][4]
Part of	Syrian Armed Forces
Garrison/HQ	Damascus
Motto(s)	"Arabic: حُمَاةَ الدِّيَارِ" (Guardians of the Homeland)
Colors	Service uniform: Khaki, Olive    Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki
Anniversaries	August 1st
Engagements	1948 Arab–Israeli War Reprisal operations First Iraqi–Kurdish War Six-Day War War of Attrition Black September Yom Kippur War Lebanese Civil War Syrian intervention in the Lebanese Civil War Hundred Days' War Battle of Zahleh Islamist uprising in Syria 1982 Lebanon War Gulf War Operation Desert Storm Operation Grapes of Wrath Syrian Civil War
Commanders
President of Syria	Marshal Bashar al-Assad
Minister of Defense	Gen. Ali Mahmoud Abbas
Chief of the General Staff	Gen. Abdul Karim Mahmoud Ibrahim

The Syrian Army, officially the Syrian Arab Army (SyAA or SAA) (Arabic: الجيش العربي السوري, romanized: al-Jayš al-ʿArabī as-Sūrī), is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces.^[5] It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the most senior posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the combined services. The Syrian Army originated in local military forces formed by the French after World War I, after France obtained a mandate over the region.^[6] It officially came into being in 1945, before Syria obtained full independence the following year.

Since 1946, it has played a major role in Syria's governance, mounting six military coups: two in 1949, including the March 1949 Syrian coup d'état and the August 1949 coup by Colonel Sami al-Hinnawi, and one each in 1951, 1954, 1963, 1966, and 1970. It has fought four wars with Israel (1948, the Six-Day War in 1967, the Yom Kippur War of 1973, and 1982 Lebanon War) and one with Jordan (Black September in Jordan, 1970). An armored division was also deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990–91 during the Gulf War, but saw little action. From 1976 to 2005 it was the major pillar of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. Internally, it played a major part in suppressing the 1979–82 Islamist uprising in Syria, and since early 2011 has been heavily engaged in fighting the Syrian Civil War, the most violent and prolonged war the Syrian Army has taken part in since its establishment in the 1940s.