The 1st Corps is a
corps
Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...
of the
Syrian Army
" (''Guardians of the Homeland'')
, colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive
* Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki
, anniversaries = August 1st
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Six ...
that was first formed in the 1980s.
Richard Bennett wrote in 2001 that "three corps
ereformed in 1985 to give the Army more flexibility and to improve combat efficiency by decentralising the command structure, absorbing at least some of the lessons learned during the Israeli invasion of the Lebanon in 1982." He said that the 1st Corps covered southern
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, in particular the heavily fortified defense zone between
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
and the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
and south to
Daraa
Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jordan ...
near the border with
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
.
Bennett's estimate of the 2001 order of battle was:
*1st Corps, HQ Damascus
**
5th Armoured Division, which included the 17th and 96th Armoured Brigades and the 112th Mechanised Brigade
**
6th Armoured Division, with the 12th and 98th Armoured Brigades and the 11th Mechanised Brigades
**
7th Mechanised Division, with the 58th and 68th Armoured Brigades and the 78th Mechanised Brigade
**
8th Armoured Division, which included the 62nd and 65th Armoured Brigades and the 32nd Mechanised Brigade
**
9th Armoured Division, with the 43rd and 91st Armoured Brigades and the 52nd Mechanised Brigade. The 52nd Armoured Brigade was reported in Daraa in May 2013.
Bennett said the 1st Corps also had four independent special forces regiments, including two trained for helicopter-inserted commando operations against the Israeli
signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...
and observation posts on
Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the ...
and elsewhere in the Golan Heights.
Cordesman et al. said from 2002 to 2005, the command of the 1st Corps was replaced three times.
Tom Cooper wrote that prior to the
Syrian Civil War, the 1st Corps' main role was defence against an Israeli invasion over the Golan Heights or through Jordan. It had two lines of defence stretching along the cease-fire lines from 1973, and controlled over four divisions (three mechanised and one armoured), a special forces division and two independent infantry brigades (seemingly the 61st and 90th).
The corps commander Major General Faraq Shehada was seized as a
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
on 29 June 2012.
2013 structure
* ''
5th Mechanized Division''
** 112th Mechanised Brigade - Isra
**132nd and 15th Mechanised Brigades (Cooper 2015 says 132nd and 35th Mech Brigades)
** 12th Armoured Brigade - Isra
** 175th Artillery Regiment - Cooper 2015 says this regiment, at
Isra equipped with the
2S1, was a
cadre
Cadre may refer to:
*Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff
*Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...
and never deployed outside its base, and then overrun in February 2014.
* ''
7th Mechanized Division''
** 68th, 121st and 88 Mechanised Brigades
** 78th Armoured Brigade
** (an unspecified) Artillery Regiment (nb. Cooper 2015 identified this regiment as the 85th)
* ''
9th Armoured Division'' - Major General Yusuf Ahmed
** 33rd, 34th and 43rd Armoured Brigades
** 52nd Mechanised Brigade - disbanded (Cooper 2015)
** (an unspecified) Artillery Regiment (nb. Cooper 2015 identified this regiment as the 15th)
In addition, the corps still included the 61st and 90th Infantry Brigades (Independent). Within the last one/two years, Brigade 90 has been reported in the
Quneitra
, ''Qunayṭrawi'' or ''Qunayṭirawi''
, population_density_metro_sq_mi =
, population_urban =
, population_density_urban_km2 =
, population_density_urban_sq_mi =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_bla ...
area,
but its base was reportedly overrun by rebels in February 2014.
Notes
References
*{{cite book, first=Tom, last=Cooper, title=Syrian Conflagration: The Civil War 2011-2013, series=Middle East@War Volume 1, publisher=Helion & Co., isbn=978-1-910294-10-9, year=2015
Military units and formations of Syria
Military units and formations established in 1985
Corps by country
1985 establishments in Syria