Syria’s Defense Ministry held a graduation ceremony Tuesday in Aleppo for the first class of the newly established 76th Division, part of a broader effort to rebuild the country’s military following the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
The ceremony, attended by Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and other senior officials, marked the deployment of 3,000 new soldiers. The ministry said the unit completed intensive training and demonstrated operational readiness during a military parade broadcast by state media.
The division is commanded by Sayf Boulad Abu Bakr. He and another senior officer, Muhammad Hussein al-Jasem, who leads the 62nd Division, were sanctioned by the European Union in May over their alleged involvement in the killing of Alawite civilians in western Syria. The incident occurred before the formation of the country’s new government on March 29, which replaced the transitional authority.
Following Assad’s removal, Syria’s previous military structure was dismantled. The new government has pledged to rebuild a national army, but questions remain over which groups will be included and how former regime elements will be handled. Several top officials remain under international sanctions.
The new military has launched a range of public initiatives in recent months, including training programs and events for wounded veterans. In a late June interview with Al Jazeera, military spokesman Uday al-Abdallah said the new army would phase out mandatory conscription and prioritize volunteers with technical skills. The plan also includes modernized training, strengthened discipline and the development of a new military doctrine.
On May 17, the Defense Ministry announced that all armed factions had been formally absorbed into the newly restructured Syrian Defense Ministry. In a statement posted on social media, the ministry said it had achieved “full integration of military units into an institutional framework.”
The post gave smaller armed groups a 10-day deadline to join or disband. Days later, officials reiterated that the new army would be professional, volunteer-based and loyal to the post-revolution Syrian state. Former officers who defected during the war would be offered a path back through retraining and reassignment. Revolutionary leaders would be required to complete military academy courses before receiving rank.
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The policy follows the government’s January declaration of victory in the Syrian revolution, which included dissolving the Assad-era army, security services and loyalist militias.
However, not all armed factions have agreed to the new terms. Talks with Kurdish and Druze groups remain unresolved. Some factions continue to refuse disarmament or government integration, while remnants of the Assad regime and ISIS maintain a limited presence in parts of the country.
“The old army was dismantled,” said Eyal Zisser, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University. “What we’re seeing now is a new framework based on 20,000 to 30,000 loyal recruits and former militias. They’re conducting training, but standards and equipment are still low.”
Zisser added that the current leadership may avoid some of Assad’s past strategic mistakes. “Bashar spent massive sums on anti-aircraft systems aimed at Israel, but that didn’t help against the domestic insurgency,” he said. “The new leadership appears to be more focused on ground forces than expensive technology.”
As part of its rebranding efforts, Syria’s Defense Ministry launched official social media accounts in January. The ministry also introduced a new national emblem featuring three stars from the national flag, an eagle, 14 feathers symbolizing each province and a five-feather tail representing the country’s geographic regions. The emblem was unveiled during a state ceremony followed by nationwide celebrations.