Assad’s Army and Intelligence Services: Feudalization or Structurization?

... a national military structure – without the growing Shiite International. Fragmentation At present, the armed forces that Bashar al-Assad relies on continue to be an assortment of groupings, all of which depend on Damascus to varying degrees. There ... ... out the directives of its leadership. There is a complicated system of approvals for the use of “elite” sections of the Syrian Arab Army in specific operations. This even applies to its most elite components: the 4th Armoured Division, the Syrian ...