14th Special Forces Division
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 14th Special Forces Division () was a division of the
Syrian Armed Forces The Syrian Armed Forces () are the military forces of Syria. Up until the fall of Bashar al-Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Ba'ath Party Ba'athist Syria, regime in December 2024, the Syrian Arab Armed Forces were the sta ...
specializing in
light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...
operations.Syria - The Special Forces and the Elite Units
/ref> The Division was part of the
Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...
's 2nd Corps.


Role

Syrians used the term "Special Forces" to describe the 14th, 15th divisions, as well as the independent 'special forces' regiments, but they more closely resembled conventional light infantry units than
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
in both mission and composition. The term "Special Forces" was applied ostensibly because of their specialized training in airborne and
air assault Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, such as helicopters, to seize and hold key terrain that has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind enemy l ...
operations, but they were regarded as light infantry forces and elite only in relation to the conventional armored and mechanized brigades of the
Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...
.


Command structure

;14th Special Forces Division (2019) * 36th Special Forces Regiment * 554th Special Forces Regiment * 556th Special Forces Regiment


Combat history

The 14th Special Forces Division was established to command three Special Forces Regiments after the mid 1990s restructuring of Ali Haydar’s consolidated Special Forces Command. Haydar's Special Forces expanded in size to 25,000 men, and formed a key part of the Syrian government's security apparatus. The Special Forces were trained in
airborne operations Airborne or Airborn may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis * ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film * ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...
, and were rivaled on power only by the Defense Companies controlled by Hafez's brother, Rifaat. As such, the 14th Division became a strong counter-weight to the Defense Companies, as both these formations were largely airborne divisions. New members were traditionally recruited from the
Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...
sect to ensure loyalty to the government. Intelligence sources state it is likely that such units were involved in crushing popular dissent and neutralizing ringleaders.


Syrian intervention in Lebanon

Under the command of Ali Haidar, the Special Forces units were deployed to Lebanon as part of the Syrian intervention in the
Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...
. It provided support to
Kamal Jumblatt Kamal Fouad Jumblatt (; 6 December 1917 – 16 March 1977) was a Lebanese politician who founded the Progressive Socialist Party. He led the National Movement during the Lebanese Civil War. He was a major ally of the Palestine Liberation Organ ...
and in some cases cooperating with the
Lebanese National Movement The Lebanese National Movement (LNM; , ''Al-Harakat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya'') was a front of Leftist, pan-Arabist and Syrian nationalist parties and organizations active during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War, which supported ...
and
Lebanese National Resistance Front The Lebanese National Resistance Front (LNRF; ), best known by its Arabic acronym, ‘Jammoul’ (جمول), was a leftist alliance led by Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party, active in Lebanon from the 1982-1990 phase of the Civil ...
. During the war they engaged with
PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...
units under the command of
Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...
.


Syrian Civil War

The government committed much of the 14th Special Forces Division to the assault of
Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...
, in which it fought some of the strongest rebel positions of Homs’ southwest
Baba Amr Baba Amr (/ALA-LC: ''Bâba ʿAmr'') is a city district (''hayy'') in southwestern Homs in central Syria. In 2004, it had a population of 34,175 (the ''hayy'' of Sultaniya which abuts Baba Amr to the south was also counted in this figure).
, Inshaat, and Jobar neighborhoods. Opposition reports specifically cited activity from the 556th Special Forces Regiment, but most frequently cited the 14th Special Forces Division generally. Activity was reported in different parts of the city during similar time-frames, suggesting that at least one additional regiment from the 14th Special Forces was involved in the operation of recapturing Homs. Since 2019, it was reorganized and rebuild with new graduates of the military academies. The old battalions and brigades were destroyed, and had to be rebuilt from scratch.


See also

*
15th Special Forces Division 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. Role Syrians used the term "Specia ...
*
25th Special Mission Forces Division The 25th Special Mission Forces Division, colloquially known by their former name Tiger Forces (; ''Quwwat al-Nimr''), was an elite special forces unit, that was part of the Syrian Army under the charge of the commander Major General Saleh Abdul ...
* 4th Armored Division *
Republican Guard A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...
* List of paratrooper forces *
List of military special forces units This is a list of military special forces units, also known as special forces, special operations forces (SOF), currently active with countries around the world, that are specially organized, trained and equipped to conduct special operations. ...


References

{{Reflist} Divisions of Syria Military units and formations established in the 1990s Special forces units and formations Special forces of Syria Damascus Military units and formations disestablished in 2024