Eurasia Press & News
Zaman Al-Wasl has obtained military data and statistics revealing the extreme magnitude of sectarianism in the Syrian army, and how a group of Bashar al-Assad protégés exclusively control the highest positions and ranks in the army.
Most of the Army’s top officers are originally from Assad’s heartland, in the Alawite-majority coastal region. In fact, the religious statistics about the Syrian army in 2021 show that Alawite officers hold 82% of army positions.
These leadership positions are spread along nine groups, for a total of 152 positions, out of which 124 are held by Alawites (82%), and 22 by Sunnis (14%). As for Druze and Christian Officers, they hold three positions (2%) each.
Assad, who along with his key allies Russia and Iran, believes the war is over, has maintained himself in power in spite of a weak army, through his dependence on local militias and Iran-backed-and-funded foreign militants.
Syrian activists said all active officers in the regime army have committed war crimes in the Syrian conflict that claimed the lives of half a million people and displaced half of the country’s population.
The study is the first of its kind and magnitude, as it reveals, with pictures, the leaders of the first ranks within Assad’s army. The latter contains about 150 leadership positions, divided into nine groups: The commanders and staff of the army, the commanders of the legions and their chiefs of staff, the leaders of the ground and air forces and their deputies, the leaders of the forces and their deputies, the military formations, the directors of departments and their deputies, Institutions, Commanders of military districts, Military colleges and academies.
