Major General Maher Hafez al-Assad is a Syrian former military officer who served as commander of the Syrian Army's elite 4th Armoured Division, which, together with Syria's Military Intelligence, formed the core of the Ba'athist regime's security forces until its collapse in 2024. He is the younger brother of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and also was a member of the Central Committee of the Syrian Ba'ath Party.
The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces.
The Syrian Republican Guard (SRG), also known as the Presidential Guard, was an elite 25,000 man praetorian guard unit in the Syrian Army prior to the fall of the Assad regime, and was reportedly at a corps size with around 60,000 guardsmen. It was composed of two mechanized divisions with its main purpose to protect the capital of Syria, Damascus, from any foreign or domestic threats. The Republican Guard was the only Syrian military unit allowed within the capital before the civil war. It was designed to defend the President as well as the major presidential and strategic institutions, including the presidential palaces.
The Air Force Intelligence Directorate was the intelligence service of Ba'athist Syria from 1963 until 2024, owing its importance to Hafez al-Assad's role as the Air Force commander. Despite its name, it was mainly involved with issues other than air force intelligence, and took an active part in the suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood rebellion in the 1980s. Agents of this service have frequently been stationed in Syrian embassies or branch offices of the national airline.
The Military Intelligence Directorate was the military intelligence service of Ba'athist Syria until 2024. Although its roots go back to the French mandate period, its current organization was established in 1969. Its predecessor organisation was called the Deuxième Bureau. It was headquartered at the Defense Ministry building in Damascus. The military intelligence service, or the Mukhabarat in Arabic, was very influential in Syrian politics.
The Egyptian Republican Guard is a Division level command within the Egyptian Army, designed to be an armored division with the main responsibilities of defending the President of the Republic as well as the major presidential and strategic institutions, including the Presidential Palaces, Command centers, and presidential airports. It is one of the largest Divisional commands in Egypt with a heavy emphasis on Armoured and Mechanized warfare. It is the most senior Corps in the Egyptian Army. The Republican Guard is the only division in the Egyptian Armed Forces that receives commands only from its commander and the president, rather than the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces led by the minister of defense.
Hafez Mohamad Makhlouf, also known as Hafez Makhlouf, is a Syrian brigadier general and intelligence officer who headed the Damascus branch of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate. He was a member of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's inner circle of close supporters.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2011, including the escalation of violence in many Syrian cities.
The Free Syrian Army is a big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defected from the Syrian Armed Forces. The officers announced that the immediate priority of the Free Syrian Army was to safeguard the lives of protestors and civilians from the deadly crackdown by Bashar al-Assad's security apparatus; with the ultimate goal of accomplishing the objectives of the Syrian revolution, namely, the end to the decades-long reign of the ruling al-Assad family. In late 2011, the FSA was the main Syrian military defectors group. Initially a formal military organization at its founding, its original command structure dissipated by 2016, and the FSA identity has since been used by various Syrian opposition groups.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian uprising from September to December 2011. This period saw the uprising take on many of the characteristics of a civil war, according to several outside observers, including the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, as armed elements became better organized and began carrying out successful attacks in retaliation for the ongoing crackdown by the Syrian government on demonstrators and defectors.
The Rif Dimashq clashes were a series of unrests and armed clashes in and around Damascus, the capital of Syria, from November 2011 until a stalemate in March 2012. The violence was part of the wider early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war. Large pro-government and anti-government protests took place in the suburbs and center of Damascus, with the situation escalating when members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) started attacking military targets in November.
The Battle of Douma was a military engagement during the Syrian civil war. The battle began on 21 January 2012, after Free Syrian Army fighters changed their tactics from attack and retreat guerrilla warfare in the suburbs of Damascus to all-out assault on army units. Earlier in January, the FSA had taken the town of Zabadani, and consequently gained control over large portions of Douma. After a general offensive in the suburbs, Douma was retaken by the Syrian army at the same time as the other rebelling suburbs.
The 4th Armoured Division was an elite formation of the Syrian Arab Army whose primary purpose was to defend Ba'athist Syria from internal and external threats. The division was considered one of the most combat-ready formations of the Syrian Arab Army. It played a key role in some battles of the Syrian Civil War.
The 15th Special Forces Division was a division of the Syrian Armed Forces specializing in light infantry operations, based in the As-Suwayda Governorate. The Division was part of the Syrian Army's 1st Corps.
Manaf Tlass or Manaf Tlas is a former Brigadier General of the Syrian Republican Guard and member of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle who defected in 2012. He was the first Syrian Republican Guard commander to defect from the Syrian military and declare support for the opposition.
War crimes in the Syrian civil war have been numerous and serious. A United Nations report published in August 2014 stated that "the conduct of the warring parties in the Syrian Arab Republic has caused civilians immeasurable suffering". Another UN report released in 2015 stated that the war has been "characterized by a complete lack of adherence to the norms of international law" and that "civilians have borne the brunt of the suffering inflicted by the warring parties". Various countries have prosecuted several war criminals for a limited number of atrocities committed during the Syrian civil war.
Issam Jad'aan Zahreddine was a Syrian military officer and former commander of the Syrian Republican Guard. He played a major role in the Syrian Civil War, leading Syrian government forces on several fronts. His most prominent role was the leadership of the surrounded Syrian forces during the over three-year long siege of Deir ez-Zor. On 18 October 2017, Zahreddine was killed by a land mine explosion during operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Saqr island in Deir ez-Zor.
The 3rd Armoured Division was a formation of the Syrian Army responsible for securing the northern approach to Damascus. The division is based in a military complex near Qutayfah and has traditionally been seen as one of the Syrian Armed Force's most reliable conventional divisions. The division is part of the 3rd Corps.
During the Syrian Civil War, Russian and Syrian government forces have conducted a campaign that has focused on the destruction of hospitals and medical facilities within areas not under the control of the Syrian government. Russian and Syrian officials have repeatedly denied deliberately targeting medical facilities.
The 30th Division was the only elite combined forces division of the Syrian Republican Guard (SRG), established in 2017. Its main purpose was similar to other SRG units, to protect the second largest city of Syria, Aleppo, from any foreign or domestic threats.
Ba'athist Syria