AFP, BEIRUT: It may boast a force of more than 300,000 soldiers, but Syria's army — which completed a pullout from Lebanon on Tuesday — is equipped with an increasingly obselete weaponry which is no match for the military supremacy of its arch-foe Israel.
Military analysts put the size of the regular armed forces in Syria at 316,000, plus 345,000 reservists, out of a total population of 18 million.
The army itself is said to have 215,000 men equipped with 4,500 tanks, as well as ballistic missiles derived from the Soviet Scud system and SS-21 surface-to-surface missiles.
Air force personnel are estimated at 40,000, with 611 fighter planes and 90 helicopters.
The remainder of the armed forces is made up of special forces, the navy and presidential guards.
Unlike Israel, its longtime foe on its southern border, Syria does not possess nuclear weapons.
In case of a major conflict against Israel, Syria can rely only on its large arsenal of missiles based in the northern region of Aleppo, and a cache of unconventional weapons, experts say.
The Jewish state remains the main regional power, with a military capacity exceeding the combined strength of neighbouring Syria, Egypt and Jordan.
Syria's military apparatus nevertheless remains “one of the most important in the Arab world,” despite its shortcomings in comparison to Israel, says American defence expert Richard Bennett.
But with the collapse of the Soviet Union, a principal ally and supplier of arms to Damascus, Bennett said, “the combat capabilities of the Syrian army have seriously deteriorated over the last decade, while its weaponry has became increasingly obsolete.”
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said Syria received arms deliveries valued at only 800 million dollars between 1995 and 2000, which represents just 0.7 percent of the region's total.
The weakness of the offensive capabilities of Syrian troops was already evident in the early 1980s, especially during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Syria's main fighting units are headquartered in Damascus, with other units deployed in an arc stretching from the northwest to the southwest opposite the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau occupied by Israel since 1967.
An imposing line of defence has been set up between Damascus and the Golan.
Air defences around Damascus and military positions atop Mount Lebanon, but the radar stations, anti-aircraft artillery and 130mm surface missiles failed to prevent Israeli air forces from attacking the region of Damascus in October 2003 for the first time in three decades.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Friday the controversial sale of Russian short-range missiles to Syria would go ahead as planned.
“This will of course complicate low-flying flights over the residence of the Syrian president,” he said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was furious last year when Israeli warplanes flew over his presidential palace in Damascus.
