The Ministry of Defense () is a

government ministry Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations used by first-level Executive (government), executive bodies in the Machinery of government, machinery of governments that manage a specific se ...

office of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, responsible for defense affairs. Murhaf Abu Qasra, Minister of Defense holds the position of Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

. Following the fall of the regime of

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

in December 2024, caretaker prime minister Mohammed al-Bashir has said the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from the former

Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

Incorporation of rebel groups

At the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference, which was held in late January 2025, the Syrian caretaker government announced the dissolution of all security agencies of the Ba'athist regime and all militias established by it. In addition, the following

Syrian opposition Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

groups are expected to be dissolved and merged into the ministry:

Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was a Sunni Islamist political organisation and paramilitary group involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on 28January 2017 as a merger between several armed groups: Jaysh al-Ahrar (an Ahrar al-Sham facti ...

, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Izza, Jaysh al-Nasr, Ansar al-Tawhid,

Sham Legion The Sham Legion (, ''Faylaq al-Shām'' lit. Levant Legion) was an alliance of Sunni Islamist rebel groups formed in March 2014, during the Syrian Civil War. The alliance was formed from 19 different groups, some of which were previously affil ...

, Al-Firqah Al-Saliheyah (faction in Al-Salihiyya),

Jaysh al-Ahrar Jaysh al-Ahrar (), was an armed Salafi Islamist rebel group in northwestern Syria that originated as a clique composed of 16 units in Ahrar al-Sham that opposed involvement in Operation Euphrates Shield, after a fatwa was released by religiou ...

Suqour al-Sham Brigades The Suqour al-Sham Brigades (, ), also known as the Falcons of the Levant Brigades, was an armed rebel organisation formed by Ahmed Abu Issa early in the Syrian Civil War to fight against the Syrian Government. It was a member of the Islamic ...

, Jama'at Ansar al-Islam, Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria, Liwa al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, Levant Front and the

Syrian National Army The Syrian National Army (SNA; ), also known as the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA), is a coalition of armed Syrian opposition groups that participate in the Syrian civil war. Comprising various rebel factions that emerged at the sta ...

. The Ministry of Defense later reported that over 70 armed factions across six regions in total agreed to participate in the new administration. However, one leader from the Syrian National Army indicated that the dissolution of different groups will be done "gradually", while a rebel leader from Daraa Governorate confirmed that the rebel groups had been ordered to disband, but that the "implementation" needs more time until more clarity is provided on how the ministry will ultimately be structured. As of February 2025, the ministry has formed a committee focused on restructuring and managing assets, as well as a "sub-committee" whose purpose is to determine a new "internal structure" for the armed forces.

Defense ministers

Arab Kingdom of Syria The Syrian Arab Kingdom (, ') was a self-proclaimed, unrecognized monarchy existing briefly in the territory of Bilad al-Sham, historical Syria. It was announced on 5 October 1918 as a fully independent Arab constitutional government with the perm ...
(1918–1920)

French Mandate for Syria (1920–1946)

First Syrian Republic The First Syrian Republic, officially the Syrian Republic, was formed in 1930 as a component of the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, succeeding the State of Syria. A treaty of independence was made in 1936 to grant independence to Syria an ...
and
Second Syrian Republic The Second Syrian Republic, officially the Syrian Republic from 1950 to 1958 and the Syrian Arab Republic from 1961 to 1963, succeeded the First Syrian Republic that had become ''de facto'' independent in April 1946 from the French Mandate. T ...
(1946–1958)

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. It was initially a short-lived political union between Republic of Egypt (1953–1958), Egypt (including Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Ara ...
(1958–1961)

Second Syrian Republic The Second Syrian Republic, officially the Syrian Republic from 1950 to 1958 and the Syrian Arab Republic from 1961 to 1963, succeeded the First Syrian Republic that had become ''de facto'' independent in April 1946 from the French Mandate. T ...
and Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic (1961–2024)

Transitional period (2024–present)

Timeline of the ministers since 1958

Military intelligence agencies

Ba'athist Syria

* Military Intelligence Directorate * Air Force Intelligence Directorate

Current

* General Intelligence Service

References

External links

* * {{Authority control

Defence Defence Organizations based in Damascus 1920 establishments in Mandatory Syria