9th Armoured Division (Syria)

9th Armoured Division
9th Armoured Division
	Divisional tactical color marking
Active	1970 — present
Country	Syria
Allegiance	Syrian Armed Forces
Branch	Syrian Army
Type	Armoured division
Role	Armoured warfare
Part of	1st Corps
Garrison/HQ	Daraa
Engagements	Yom Kippur War Valley of Tears; ; Lebanese Civil War; Gulf War Operation Desert Storm; ; Syrian Civil War Idlib Governorate clashes (June 2012–April 2013); 2015 Southern Syria offensive; Daraa and As-Suwayda offensive (June 2015); Rif Dimashq Governorate campaign; Battle of Harasta (2017–2018); Rif Dimashq offensive (February–April 2018); Southern Damascus offensive (April–May 2018); As-Suwayda offensive (August–November 2018); Operation Dawn of Idlib; March 2020 Daraa clashes; 2021 Daraa offensive; ;
Commanders
Current; commander	Maj. Gen. Hussein Ismail al-Jeddawi
Chief of Staff	Brig. Gen. Yusha Saad al-Din
Notable; commanders	Lt. Gen. Hasan Turkmani †; Maj. Gen. Ramadan Ramadan; Maj. Gen. Ahmed Ibrahim Nayouf

The 9th Armoured Division (Arabic: الفرقة التاسعة المدرعة) is an elite division of the Syrian Arab Army, part of the 1st Army Corps and it was established in 1970.

Command structure

9th Armoured Division (2022)

34th Armoured Brigade
43rd Armoured Brigade
701st Armoured Brigade
52nd Mechanized Brigade^[6]^[7]
467th Special Forces Regiment
89th Artillery Brigade^[8]

Source:^[4]^[9]

Combat history

Yom Kippur War and Lebanon

The division was established in 1970, and was originally called the 9th Infantry Division, although according to its composition it was actually an armored division. In 1973 it was heavily engaged during the October War, and in the Valley of Tears.^[10] The division participated in attack on the Golan Heights at the beginning of the war. It attacked the center of the plateau, alongside the 5th Division which attacked the southern sector and the 7th Division which attacked the north.

Under the division's command were the 52nd Mechanized Brigade (with 41 tanks) in the northern part of the sector and the 33rd Mechanized Brigade (with 41 tanks) in the southern part of the sector. Behind the first tier brigades were two second tier brigades; The 43rd Armored Brigade (with 95 tanks) and the 51st Armored Brigade (with 95 tanks), which was attached to the division. The division was commanded during the war by Hasan Turkmani.^[11]

In April 1976, it was announced by Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese National Movement, that the 91st Armoured Brigade had entered Lebanon.^[12] This was in addition to other Syrian forces that had entered previously.

Gulf War

The 9th Armored Division served in the 1991 Gulf War as the Arab Joint Forces Command North reserve and saw little action.^[13] In 2001 Richard Bennett estimated that its brigades included the 43rd and 91st Armored Brigades and the 52nd Mechanized Brigade. He wrote that it was part of the 1st Corps, which covered from Golan Heights, the fortified zone and south to Der'a near the Jordanian border.

Civil war

Since the start of the war, 9th Division was engaged in Idlib Governorate clashes (June 2012–April 2013). The 52nd Armored Brigade was reported in Der'aa in southern Syria in May 2013.^[14] 9th Division took part in the 2015 Southern Syria offensive, which resulted into stalemate.^[15] In June 2015, it was involved in Daraa and As-Suwayda offensive. The 9th Division alongside pro-government militias repelled major rebel offensive.^[16]

It was reported in October 2015 that "Syrian armed opposition factions seized the strategic Tel Ahmar in the northern countryside of Quneitra on Saturday, following violent clashes with government forces. The capture of Tel Ahmar comes days after opposition factions seized the Fourth Division of the Syrian army’s Brigade 91 in the same offensive, which aims to break the siege on Western Ghouta."^[17] Between November 2017 and January 2018, the division's units took part in battles on the outskirts of Damascus (Battle of Harasta).^[18] During August 2021, they participated in the Daraa offensive, which led to extensive occupations east and west of the city of Dara'a in favor of the Syrian government forces.^[19]

References

^ "Exclusive: Syrian Army's 9th Division shock troops prepare to storm ISIS stronghold (photos)". Al Masdar News. 29 April 2018. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
^ Gregory Waters (12 March 2019). "Understanding Syria's Military Deployments in Idlib". International Review. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
^ Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi (30 July 2021). "Events in Deraa: Perspective from the Fourth Division". Retrieved 31 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b Gregory Waters (18 July 2019). "The Lion and The Eagle: The Syrian Arab Army's Destruction and Rebirth". Middle East Institute. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
^ Major General Ahmed Ibrahim Nayouf has appointed as commander of the 9th Armoured Division (from Tartus Governorate).
^ "Largest Syrian Brigade Nears Breaking Point". Arutz Sheva. 16 May 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
^ "Syrian Army restores all lost points in Golan Heights". 12 September 2016. Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
^ Gregory Waters (12 May 2019). "Fighter from the 109th Battalion, 89th Brig of the #9th_Division KIA in #Idlib". Twitter. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
^ Holliday, Joseph (February 2013). "The Syrian Army doctrinal order of battle" (PDF). Institute for the Study of War. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
^ Kenneth Pollack, 'Arab Armies at War', University of Nebraska Press, 2001.
^ Hanna Batatu (1999). Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics. Princeton University Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-691-00254-5. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
^ Marius Deeb, Syria's Terrorist War on Lebanon and the Peace Process, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, ISBN 1403980969, 9781403980960, 18.
^ Schwarzkopf, It doesn't take a hero, Bantam Books, 1993, 467-9.
^ "Largest Syrian Brigade Nears Breaking Point". Arutz Sheva.
^ "Map: The Military Situation in North of Daraa Province & SouthWest of RifDimashq Province - February 12, 2015". archicivilians. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
^ "Syria clashes rage over army airbase in Sweida". Al Jazeera. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
^ al-Youm, Madar (5 October 2015). "Opposition Seizes Strategic Tel Ahmar, Advances on Western Ghouta". The Syrian Observer.
^ "Pictures: Syrian Army floods east Damascus with massive reinforcements to annihilate jihadist offensive". al-Masdar. 1 January 2018. Archived from the original on 16 September 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
^ "مقتل شاب برصاص قوات النظام في درعا البلد ومطالبات أهلية بإفراغ المنطقة من أهلها وسكانها بعد تصعيد قوات النظام الأخير" (in Arabic). SOHR. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.