Integrating Armed Factions into the New Syrian Army: Between Challenges and Opportunities
Executive Summary:
This report explores the opportunity to rebuild Syria’s military institution following the collapse of the Assad regime in late 2024, which opened the way for rethinking the armed forces on a national basis, free from ideological or regional loyalties. This transitional stage represents a genuine opportunity to redesign the Syrian army in a framework that reflects national unity, after decades in which the Assad regime had stripped the state and its institutions of their sovereignty.
The report reviews comparable Arab experiences in countries such as Yemen, Libya, and Sudan, concluding that attempts to integrate armed factions into a unified structure often ended in failure due to internal divisions, competing loyalties, regional interventions, and mutual mistrust among actors.
In the Syrian context, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) emerges as a central pillar in the integration project, given its de facto oversight of the Ministry of Defense and its expressed readiness to steer other factions toward incorporation within a new national army. Meanwhile, the factions of the National Liberation Front and the Syrian National Army have shown varying levels of responsiveness: some have engaged in the management of military operations, while others maintain a more reserved stance, conditioned by regional priorities such as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). In addition, factions from Sweida, including Men of Dignity and Mountain Brigade, have signaled their willingness to join the new army provided that it is established on genuinely national foundations.
The report highlights several major challenges to this process: faction leaders’ fear of losing influence, the persistence of localism that fosters loyalty to local commanders, overlapping external influence (regional and Russian), and the weakness of mechanisms to control a fragmented military scene. The unresolved status of the SDF further complicates the sequencing of military integration priorities.
The report concludes that integrating factions within a new national army is a cornerstone of rebuilding the Syrian state. However, the success of this project depends on overcoming internal divisions and parochial loyalties, adopting an inclusive national doctrine, and engaging in comprehensive national dialogue that ensures fair representation of resources and all Syrian constituencies. Failure to achieve this goal risks pushing the new Syrian state into a chaotic scenario similar to that of other Arab countries that failed to integrate their armed groups after uprisings.
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مدير وحدة التوافق والهوية المشتركة في مركز الحوار السوري، يحمل شهادة الدكتوراه في القانون العام من جامعة حلب، وحائز على اعتمادية المعهد العالي للحقوق في الشرق الأوسط، وعمل سابقاً مدرساً في كلية الحقوق في جامعة حلب الحرة. يركز في أبحاثه الحالية على دراسة ديناميكيات العلاقة بين المجتمع السوري والنصوص القانونية والدستورية منها على وجه التحديد.
باحث مساعد في مركز الحوار السوري، يعمل ضمن وحدة تحليل السياسات، كتب وشارك في العديد من الأوراق المتعلقة بتحليل سياسات الفاعلين في سوريا، يحمل إجازة في الأدب العربي من جامعة الفرات السورية، عمل كاتباً وصحفياً ومدققاً لغوياً لعدة سنوات في العديد من المواقع والقنوات الإخبارية.
