The 5th Mechanized Division () was a
mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with Armoured personnel carrier, armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also armoured corps).
As defined by the United States Army, me ...
division of the
Syrian Arab Army
The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; ) were the combined armed forces of Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria.
The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air D ...
. The division was part of the Syrian Army's
1st Corps.
Command structure
;5th Mechanized Division (2021)
* 12th Armored Brigade
* 15th Mechanized Brigade
* 112th Mechanized Brigade
* 132nd Mechanized Brigade
* 38th Infantry Brigade
* 59th
Commando
A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines.
Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...
Battalion
* 175th Artillery Regiment
Source:
Combat history
The 5th Division was one of the oldest divisions in the
Syrian Arab Army
The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; ) were the combined armed forces of Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria.
The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air D ...
and its seat in the
Daraa
Daraa (, Levantine Arabic: ) is a city in southwestern Syria, north of the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate in the Hauran region. Located south of Damascus on the Damascus–Amman highway, it serves as a way sta ...
region has changed very little over the years, already during the
Six Day War
The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June 1967.
Military hostilities broke ...
the division existed and was stationed in the southwestern sector, along the border With
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
and the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...
.
Black September in Jordan
The 5th Division, at that time an infantry formation, invaded
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
during the events of
Black September in Jordan
Black September (), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by chairman Yasser Arafat. The main phase of the fighting took place betw ...
. In September 1970, the division alongside an independent armored brigade and the commando forces participated in an attack by the Syrian army in Jordan. The division then consisted of the 88th Armored Brigade, the 91st Armored Brigade and the 67th Mechanized Brigade (a total of about 200
T-55
The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2 ...
tanks).
A second, much larger, Syrian incursion occurred in the same time: it consisted of two armored and one mechanized infantry brigades of the 5th Infantry Division, and around 300 tanks. Although the Syrian tanks had PLA markings, the troops were Syrian Army regulars. After an ineffectual defence by the massively outnumbered Jordanian 40th Armoured Brigade, the 5th Division's attack was repelled with heavy losses on 22 September 1970 mostly through the efforts of the
Royal Jordanian Air Force
The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF; Arabic: سلاح الجو الملكي الأردني, ''Silāḥ al-Jaww al-Malakī al-ʾUrdunī'') is the aerial warfare branch of the Jordanian Armed Forces. Founded in 1955, the RJAF serves as the primary ...
.
Yom Kippur War

The 5th Division also saw action on the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...
during the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...
, being deployed alongside the
1st
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
,
3rd,
7th
Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven.
Seventh may refer to:
* Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
* A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts
Film and television
*"The Seventh", a second-season ep ...
, and
9th divisions. These divisions were supposed to break the Israeli defense line in the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...
and in the first phase advance inward with the help of the reserve forces (mainly 1st and 3rd divisions) up to the
Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...
line. The 5th Division, under the command of Brig. Gen.
Ali Aslan, was responsible for the front south and east of Rafid, and north of the Yarmouk Valley.
Although designated as an infantry division, it was actually a mechanized division.
The 5th Division was the only deployed division which had its full complement of armoured and mechanised vehicles, with some 10,000 men, 200 tanks, 72 artillery pieces, and an equal number of anti-aircraft weapons.
During this period, the division was composed of four brigades: 46th Armored Brigade (also called the 12th Brigade), 132nd Mechanized Brigade, 112th Infantry Brigade and 61st Infantry Brigade. Before the war, the 47th Independent Armored Brigade was attached to the division.
Of the Syrian forces along the border in the Golan Heights, the 5th Division was perhaps the most successful in terms of attacking targets. The forces of the division managed to break through the defense line between the Rapid and the
El-Al areas, advancing deep into the center of the Golan and fighting alongside the forces of the 1st and 9th divisions tn the area of Nefam and in the deep south in the El Al area. The forces of the division participated in most of the battles in the southern sector, including the fighting at
Tel Saki, the fighting around Hosnia and the fighting along the
Petroleum Road
The Petroleum Road or Tapline Road (Hebrew: כביש הנפט, ''Kvish HaNeft'') is a long, privately owned north-south asphalt road in the Golan Heights. The name ''Petroleum Road'' derives from the now defunct oil pipeline of the Trans-Ara ...
that connects the southern sector to the center of the plateau and camp volume.
Syrian Civil War
Prior to 2011 the division was part of the
1st Corps. Commenting on events during the
April–May 2011 Daraa siege
The siege of Daraa occurred within the context of the 2011 Arab Spring protests in Syria, in which Daraa was the center of unrest. On 25 April 2011, the Syrian Army began a ten-day siege of the city, an operation that helped escalate the upri ...
, Henry Boyd of the
International Institute for Strategic Studies
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...
noted that "the locally based 5th Armoured Division was supplemented by a brigade of the
4th Armoured Division under the command of
Maher al-Assad
Major General Maher Hafez al-Assad (, born 8 December 1967) 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 t ...
."
Izra
Izra or Izraa () is a town in the Daraa Governorate of Syria, to the north of the city of Daraa. It is the administrative centre of the Izra District, and sits at an altitude of 599 metres. Izra had a population of 19,158 in 2004, according to the ...
is base to the 5th Division'
12th Armoured Brigadean
175th Artillery Regiment The 12th Armoured Brigade has been reported as taking part in the
Siege of Menagh Air Base, near the Turkish border.
On 9 November 2014, during the
First Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin, rebels captured th
al-Hesh northern and southern hills the Army training ground, al-Rahba battalion base, "al-Konkors" battalion base, the medical base
"al-Hejajia" tanks battalion baseand Hawi checkpoint around the city of
Nawa. Later, rebels took control over the entire city after the Army retreated
toward
Brigade 112 HQ base(located between the two towns) as well as
Shaykh Maskin
Al-Shaykh Maskin (), also spelled Sheikh Maskīn, Sheikh Miskeen, is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located north of Daraa. Nearby localities include Ibta' and Da'el to the south, Khirbet al-Ghazaleh th ...
Brigade 112 HQwas eventually captured by the rebels according to two Arab news agencies.
Both local rebel groups and the
al-Nusra Front
Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...
claimed credit for the opposition advance. Syrian state broadcaster
SANA said troops were "redeploying and reorganizing in the Nawa area... in order to prepare for upcoming fighting." At the end of the day, SOHR reported, the Army advanced inside Shaykh Maskin.
As of 10 November 2014, according to a military source cited by pro-government media, the Army was still present in the South and East Districts of Shaykh Maskin, and reportedly cleared the two besieged areas surroundin
Base 82and Brigade 112.
The next day, rebels advanced in Shaykh Maskin and took control of new positions and eventually captured the eastern neighborhoods on 12 November. In 2016, during the
Second Battle of Shaykh Maskin the town was again recaptured by the Syrian Army with participation of 5th Division.
In 2017, the 12th Brigade briefly fought in the neighboring
Suwayda Governorate
As-Suwayda or Al-Suwayda Governorate () is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is the southernmost governorate, covering an area of 5,550 km², and is part of the historic Hawran region. The capital and largest city of ...
. Furthermore, a 59th Commandos Battalion of the 5th Division participated in the fighting around
Abu Dali, Idlib during the
2018 Northwestern Syria campaign. Since late 2018, the 5th Division units were given modern Russian equipment, trained in a new offensive strategy and filled with new graduates of the military academies. In June 2019, the 112th Brigade of the 5th Division was deployed to Hama for reinforcement of the Syrian Arab Army positions.
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:6th Armoured Division
1970 establishments in Syria
Military units and formations established in 1970
Infantry divisions of Syria
Military units and formations disestablished in 2024