Military profile
Syria Military Strength
Syria ranks #64 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 100,000 active personnel.
Syria armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 100,000#43 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 0#84 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 50,000#31 of 145
- Army personnel
- 80,000#44 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 15,000#42 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 5,500#58 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 453#29 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 208#14 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 18#35 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 153#27 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 27#27 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 2,616#9 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 319#20 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 3,225#6 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 669#9 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 0#56 of 113
- Corvettes
- 0#47 of 113
- Submarines
- 0#44 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 33#31 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 7#20 of 113
Finance
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $47.0 billion#109 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Armed forces of Syria
Branches and forces
the interim government authorities in Syria have established a Ministry of Defense and are attempting to unify the dozens of armed factions operating in Syria under a single, state-linked army; it has also established a Ministry of Interior to manage police and other security forces (2025)
Personnel
not available
Service age and conscription
under Bashar al-ASAD, Syrian men aged 18-38 were required to serve 18-21 months in the military; conscription continued until ASAD's fall when the interim government announced that mandatory conscription to Syria's armed forces would be abolished and only be reinstated in extreme cases, such as national emergencies relating to war (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the military forces of Syria are equipped with Russian and Soviet-era armaments (2025)
Good to know
as of September 2025, the government did not exercise control over all of Syria; areas of the northeast were under the control of ethnic Kurdish-led forces and areas south of the capital Damascus were controlled by members of the Druze religious minority; Turkish forces remained in parts of the north, while Israeli forces had moved into formerly demilitarized areas between Syria and Israel and into some Syrian territory near the frontier the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has operated in the Golan between Israel and Syria since 1974 to monitor the ceasefire following the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and supervise the areas of separation between the two countries; UNDOF has about 1,300 personnel (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2019: 6.5% · 2018: 6.7% · 2017: 6.8% · 2016: 6.9% · 2015: 7.2%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Türkiye
Iraq
Lebanon
Jordan
Israel