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Palmyra Offensive (March 2016)
The Palmyra offensive (March 2016) was a military operation of the Syrian Arab Army, supported by Russian airstrikes, to recapture from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant the city of Tadmur (near the ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra), which was strategically important for both forces due to its position in central Syria. The city was fully recaptured on 27 March. Offensive Battle for the hills First week On 9 March 2016, heavy Russian airstrikes started hitting the Palmyra area, with 32 ISIL fighters reported killed by the next day. As of 14 March, 80 airstrikes and 200 rockets and artillery shells had hit the city. The Syrian Arab Army's Central Command stated their next aim after eventually capturing Palmyra would be Deir ez-Zor. Major ground fighting started on 12 March, when the Syrian Army attacked the village of Al-Dawah, west of Palmyra, while the next day they assaulted Jabal Qassoun mountain, where Palmyra Castle is located. In all, the military ...
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Islamic State Of Iraq And The Levant
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ''dawlah islāmiyyah'' ( ar, دولة إسلامية) it refers to a modern notion associated with political Islam (Islamism). Notable examples of historical Islamic states include the State of Medina, established by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the Arab Caliphate which continued under his successors and the Umayyads. The concept of the modern Islamic state has been articulated and promoted by ideologues such as Sayyid Rashid Rida, Mohammed Omar, Abul A'la Maududi, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Israr Ahmed, Sayyid Qutb and Hassan al-Banna. Implementation of Islamic law plays an important role in modern theories of the Islamic state, as it did in classical Islamic political theories. However, most of the modern theories also m ...
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Qalamoun Shield Forces
The Qalamoun Shield Forces ( ar, قوات درع القلمون, ''Quwwāt Dirʿ l-Qalamūn'', short: QSF) was a militia formed by natives of the Qalamoun Mountains that fought for the Syrian government during the Syrian Civil War. Originally a small auxiliary and self-defense group, QSF grew into relatively large and well-equipped paramilitary force that operated nationwide. Led by Firas Jaz'ah, the Qalamoun Shield Forces were closely affiliated with the 3rd Armoured Division. History Early history as Republican Guard auxiliaries The origins of the Qalamoun Shield Forces lie in a small militia of the same name that was set up in al-Nabek after its capture from rebels during the Battle of Qalamoun (2013). Formed by "notables, retired officers and other locals" on 9 January 2014, this unit was designated as auxiliaries to the Republican Guard and was supposed to secure areas retaken from rebel groups. A Damascus native named Adel Ibrahim Dellah eventually became commander ...
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Syrian Marines SSI
Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to inhabit the region of Syria over the course of thousands of years. The mother tongue of most Syrians is Levantine Arabic, which came to replace the former mother tongue, Aramaic, following the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century. The conquest led to the establishment of the Caliphate under successive Arab dynasties, who, during the period of the later Abbasid Caliphate, promoted the use of the Arabic language. A minority of Syrians have retained Aramaic which is still spoken in its Eastern and Western dialects. In 2018, the Syrian Arab Republic had an estimated population of 19.5 million, which includes, aside from the aforementioned majority, ethnic minorities such as K ...
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Syrian Republican Guard
The Syrian Republican Guard ( ar, الْحَرَسُ الْجُمْهُورِيُّ, ''al-Ḥaras al-Jumhūriyy''), also known as the Presidential Guard, is an elite 25,000 man mechanized division, although it may actually approach corps size with around 60,000 guardsman. Its main purpose is to protect the capital, Damascus, from any foreign or domestic threats. The Guard was the only Syrian military unit allowed within the capital city before the civil war. History The Guard was formed in 1976 after the after the Syrian occupation of Lebanon to protect the increasingly unpopular president. Major-General Adnan Makhlouf commanded the Guard from 1976 until 1997. The Republican Guard is used mostly to protect top Syrian government officials from any external threats and to serve as a counter-weight to the other powerful Syrian Army formations near the capital, the 4th Mechanized Division, the 3rd Armoured Division, and the 14th Special Forces (Airborne) Division. Many members of t ...
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Syrian Republican Guard Symbol
Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to inhabit the region of Syria over the course of thousands of years. The mother tongue of most Syrians is Levantine Arabic, which came to replace the former mother tongue, Aramaic, following the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century. The conquest led to the establishment of the Caliphate under successive Arab dynasties, who, during the period of the later Abbasid Caliphate, promoted the use of the Arabic language. A minority of Syrians have retained Aramaic which is still spoken in its Eastern and Western dialects. In 2018, the Syrian Arab Republic had an estimated population of 19.5 million, which includes, aside from the aforementioned majority, ethnic minorities such as ...
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Tiger Forces
The 25th Special Mission Forces Division, mostly known by their former name Tiger Forces or Quwwat al-Nimr ( ar, قُوَّات النِّمْر), is an elite formation (special forces unit) of the Syrian Arab Army which functions primarily as an offensive unit in the Syrian Civil War. It has been described as a "hot commodity for any government offensive", but their relatively small numbers make it difficult to deploy them to multiple fronts at once. History The special forces unit was formed during the Syrian civil war. According to Gregory Waters, the Tiger Forces are operated by the Air Force Intelligence Directorate.p. 2 After successful operations in Latakia and Hama,p. 2 Colonel Suheil al-Hassan was tasked a special project by the Syrian Armed Forces Central Command in the fall of 2013—to train and lead a Special Forces unit that would work primarily as an offensive unit. Colonel Hassan handpicked many of the soldiers that would later form the Tiger Forces ...
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18th Armoured Division (Syria)
The 18th Armoured Division ( ar, الفرقة المدرعة الثامنة عشر or الفرقة المدرعة 18) is one of two autonomous reserve divisions of the Syrian Arab Army, the other being the 17th Division. Structure This is the smallest conventional division in the Syrian Arab Army with only about 7,000 men. Its force structure is made up of the: *131st, 134th and 167th Armored Brigades *120th Mechanized Brigade *64th Artillery Regiment Syrian Civil War The division was in a reserve role leading up to the summer of 2013. Since then it has been heavily engaged in the Syrian Civil War. The European Council named Major General Wajih Mahmud as commander of the 18th Armored Division in the ''Official Journal of the European Union'' on 15 November 2011, sanctioning him for violence committed in Homs. Henry Boyd of the IISS noted that "... in Homs, the 18th Armored Division was reinforced by Special Forces units and ... by elements of the 4th Division under ...
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Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .) Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the Soviet Union's Spetsnaz GRU, special operations units of the GRU, the main military intelligence service. It also describes task forces of other ministries (such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs' ODON and Ministry of Emergency Situations' special rescue unit) in post-Soviet countries. As ''spetsnaz'' is a Russian term, it is typically associated with the special units of Russia, but other post-Soviet states often refer to their special forces units by the term as well, since these nations also inherited their special purpose units from the now-defunct Soviet security agencies. The 5th Spetsnaz Brigade of Belarus is an example of a non-Russian spetsnaz force. Etymology The Russian abbreviations ''spetsnaz'' and ''osnaz'' are syl ...
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Alexander Prokhorenko
Alexander Alexandrovich Prokhorenko ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Прохоре́нко; 22 June 1990 – 17 March 2016) was a Senior lieutenant with the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Armed Forces. He was killed during the Palmyra offensive of the Syrian Civil War. During his last moments, he was allegedly surrounded on all sides by ISIS fighters and he decided to order an airstrike at his own position, killing himself and all of the approaching terrorists. On 11 April 2016, President Vladimir Putin declared Prokhorenko a Hero of the Russian Federation, the highest Russian honor. His funeral with full military honors was held in his home village of Gorodki on 6 May 2016. Early and personal life Prokhorenko was from the village of Gorodki in Orenburg Oblast. Prokhorenko was married and expecting his first child when he was killed in action. Military career In 2007, he graduated from the Gorodets secondary school with a silver medal ...
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Alexander Zhuravlyov
Colonel General Alexander Alexandrovich Zhuravlyov (russian: Александр Александрович Журавлёв; born 5 December 1965) is a Russian Ground Forces officer who has commanded the military force in Syria during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War and served as the commander of the Western Military District from November 2018 to June 2022. After returning from Syria, he became the Deputy Chief of the General Staff before being appointed commander of the Eastern Military District in November 2017. He was also awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation in 2016 by a directive of the President. Currently, Western nations have identified him as a war criminal in Ukraine, and have imposed sanctions on him. Biography Early career (2008-2021) He was born in the town of Golyshmanovo, in the Tyumen Oblast, in 1965. In 1982, Zhuralvyov finished secondary school and joined the Soviet Army. He graduated from the in 1986 and the Ma ...
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Aleksandr Dvornikov
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Dvornikov (; born 22 August 1961) is a Russian Ground Forces army general (Russia), army general who commanded the Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war, Russian military intervention in Syria and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. After joining the Soviet Army in 1978, Dvornikov rose through the ranks of the Soviet and then Russian army over a period of thirty years. In 2015, he became commander of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria during the Russian military intervention there. At that time he cemented a reputation for the harsh conduct of his military campaigns as Chechen–Russian conflict#Chechen Wars, those in Chechnya before. In April 2022, Dvornikov was placed in charge of military operations during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, until he was replaced with Army general (Russia), Army general Sergei Surovikin on October 8, 2022. Early life and Soviet military career Dvornikov was born on 22 August 1961 in Ussuriysk. H ...
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