Syrian Army
1970–2010
On 29 September 2004, Jane's Defence Weekly reported that Syria had begun to redeploy elements of one or more Syrian Army special forces regiments based in the coastal hills a few kilometres south of Beirut in Lebanon. A senior Lebanese Army officer told JDW that the 3,000 troops involved would return to Syria.
Relationship with National Defence Force
Struggling with reliability issues and defections, officers of the SAA increasingly preferred the part-time volunteers of the NDF, who they regarded as more motivated and loyal, over regular army conscripts to conduct infantry operations and act as support for advancing tanks.
Relationship with National Defence Force
The NDF continued to play a significant role in military operations across Syria despite the formation of other elite units, many of which received direct assistance from Russia.
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