Syrian Navy

Syrian Arab Navy البحرية العربية السورية
Flag of the Syrian Arab Navy
Founded	1946
Service branches	Navy
Headquarters	Damascus
Leadership
President of Syria	Bashar al-Assad
Minister of Defense	General Fahd Jassem al-Freij
Chief of Naval Staff	Vice Admiral Talib al-Barri
Manpower
Available for military service	4,356,413 (2005 est.), age 15–49
Fit for military service	3,453,888 (2005 est.), age 15–49
Reaching military age annually	225,113 (2005 est.)
Active personnel	4,000
Reserve personnel	2,500
Expenditures
Budget	$935 million to 2 billion (FY11)[1][2]
Percent of GDP	3.8% (FY00)
Industry
Foreign suppliers	Russia  Iran

The Syrian Navy (Arabic: البحرية العربية السورية‎) is the smallest of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is under the Syrian Army's Latakia regional command with the fleet based in the ports of Baniyas, Latakia, Minat al Bayda, and Tartus.

History

In 1950, the Syrian Navy was established following the procurement of a few naval vessels from France. The initial personnel consisted of army soldiers who had been sent to French naval academies for training.^[3]

During the Yom Kippur War the Israeli Navy sank five Syrian ships without a loss during the Battle of Latakia. As a result the Syrian Navy remained in port for the rest of the conflict.^[4]

Tartus

Osa II (Project 205U) craft

Tartus hosts a Soviet-era naval supply and maintenance base, under a 1971 agreement with Syria. The base was established during the Cold War to support the Soviet Navy's fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. Since Russia forgave Syria of three-fourths of its $13.4 billion Soviet-era debt and became its main arms supplier, Russia and Syria have conducted talks about allowing Russia to develop and enlarge its naval base, so that Russia can strengthen its naval presence in the Mediterranean.^[5] Amid Russia's deteriorating relations with the West, because of the 2008 South Ossetia War and plans to deploy a US missile defense shield in Poland, President Assad agreed to the port’s conversion into a permanent Middle East base for Russia’s nuclear-armed warships.^[6] Since 2009, Russia has been renovating the Tartus naval base and dredging the port to allow access for its larger naval vessels.^[7]

Syrian civil war

During the Syrian civil war, opposition activists claimed that Syrian Navy warships supported a military attack by government forces against rebels in the city of Latakia.^[8]

Equipment

Petya class frigate

• Submarines
  • 2 Romeo-class submarines (inactive).
• Frigates: 2 Petya III^[9]
  • Al Assari 1-508
  • Al Hirasa 2-508
• Missile boats:

8 Osa I

12 Osa II

10 Tir II (IPS 18) - believed to be local produced by Maritime Industries Group or copies of North Korean patrol boats

• Patrol craft

8 Zhuk-class patrol boats are 45' inshore vessels

6 MIG-S-1800 class - monohull and catamaran produced by Maritime Industries Group with longer variants (S-1900 and S-2600)

• Amphibious warfare vessels:

3 Polnocny B

• Mine warfare vessels :

1 Sonya-class minesweepers

5 Yevgenya-class minesweepers

1 Natya-class minesweepers

• Naval aviation:
  • 618th Maritime Warfare Squadron

11 Mil Mi-14PL Haze-A

5 Kamov Ka-25

5 Kamov Ka-28PL Helix-A

Coast defence

 PRC C-802^[10]

 USSR P-5 Pyatyorka (SS-N-1 Sepal)

 USSR P-15 Termit (SS-N-3 Styx)

 RUS K-300P Bastion-P / P-800 Yakhont (2 systems delivered in 2011)^[11]

 USSR M1954 (M-46)

References