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Quneitra Governorate Clashes (2012–2014)
The 2012–2014 Quneitra Governorate clashes began in early November 2012, when the Syrian Army began engaging with rebels in several towns and villages of the Quneitra Governorate. The clashes quickly intensified and spilled into the UN-supervised neutral demilitarized zone between Syrian controlled territory and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The fighting came to international attention when in March 2013, Syrian rebels took hostage 21 Filipino UN personnel, who had been a part of the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the neutral buffer zone between Syria and Israel. According to UN official they were taken hostage near Observation Post 58, which had sustained damage and was evacuated the previous weekend, following heavy combat in close proximity at Al Jamla. The UN personnel were later released with Jordanian mediation. Israel was briefly involved in the fighting in several incidents, such as on 11 November 2012, when mortar shells from Syria landed near an Israeli ...
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Al-Monitor
''Al-Monitor'' is a news website launched in 2012 by the Arab-American entrepreneur Jamal Daniel. Based in Washington, D.C., ''Al-Monitor'' provides reporting and analysis from and about the Middle East. ''Al-Monitor'' is the recipient of the International Press Institute's 2014 Free Media Pioneer Award. History and organization ''Al-Monitor'' was launched on 13 February 2012 by Jamal Daniel. It was founded with the mission to foster a deeper understanding between the Middle East and the international community by diving deep with analytical pieces from some of the most trusted, independent authors from across the globe. In 2018, ''Al-Monitor'' partnered with North Base Media which was founded by former editor of ''The Washington Post'' and ''The Wall Street Journal'', Marcus Brauchli and Sasa Vucinic to manage ''Al-Monitor'' in order "to provide top-level operational and financial decision-making, and work with the company to explore possible content and commercial avenues ...
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Golan Heights
The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in the north and Ruqqad, Wadi Raqqad in the east. It hosts vital water sources that feed the Hasbani River and the Jordan River. Two thirds of the area was Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War and then Golan Heights Law, effectively annexed in 1981 – an action unrecognized by the international community, which continues to consider it Israeli occupation, Israeli-occupied Syrian territory. In 2024 Israeli invasion of Syria, 2024, Israel occupied the remaining one third of the area. The earliest evidence of human habitation on the Golan dates to the Upper Paleolithic period. It was home to the biblical Geshur, and was later incorporated into Aram-Damascus,Michael Avi-Yonah (1979). ''The Hol ...
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Israeli-occupied Territories
Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian territories was split between Egypt and Jordan, which occupied the Administration of the Gaza Strip by Egypt, Gaza Strip and the Administration of the West Bank by Jordan, West Bank, respectively. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, where Israel has transferred parts of its population and built large Israeli settlement, settlements, is the List of military occupations, longest military occupation in modern history. From 1967 to 1981, the four areas were administered under the Israeli Military Governorate, and after the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt after the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, Israel effectively annexed the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem in ...
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Syrian Army
The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the most senior posts in the armed forces, and had the greatest manpower, approximately 80 percent of the combined services.. The Syrian Army originated in local military forces formed by the French after World War I, after France obtained a mandate over the region. It officially came into being in 1945, before Syria obtained full independence the following year and 2 years after official independance. After 1946, it played a major role in Syria's governance, mounting six military coups: two in 1949, including the March 1949 Syrian coup d'état and the August 1949 coup by Colonel Sami al-Hinnawi, and one each in 1951, 1954, 1963, 1966, and 1970. It fought four wars with Israel (1948, the Six-Day War in ...
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Quneitra Governorate Clashes (2012–14)
Quneitra Governorate clashes may refer to: * Quneitra Governorate clashes (2012–2014) * Quneitra Governorate clashes (2024) See also * Quneitra offensive (other) {{disambiguation ...
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Syrian Arab Air Force
The Syrian Air Force () is the air force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It was established in 1948, and first saw action in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Under Ba'athist Syria until December 8, 2024, it was known as the Syrian Arab Air Force. Land-based air defense systems were grouped under the Syrian Air Defence Force, which split from both the Air Force and the Army. As of March 2025, the air force status is unknown, with some of its equipment being lost following the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and other rebel groups offensive in November 2024 and subsequent Israeli Air Force's airstrikes in December 2024, following the collapse of the Assad regime. History 1940s The end of World War II led to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom and France from the Middle East, and this included a withdrawal from Syria. In 1948, the Syrian Air Force was officially established after the first class of pilots graduated from a French-run flight school at Estabel airfield in Lebanon, using ...
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National Defense Force (Syria)
The National Defense Forces (NDF; ''Quwāt ad-Difāʿ al-Watanī'') was a Syrian paramilitary volunteer militia, that was formed on 1 November 2012 and organized by Ba'athist Syria during the Syrian civil war as a part-time volunteer reserve component of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces. The NDF was made of units across various Syrian provinces, each of them consisting of local volunteers willing to fight against rebels for various reasons. Formation By the beginning of 2013, the Syrian government took steps to formalize and professionalize hundreds of Popular Committee militias under a new group dubbed the National Defense Forces.Will Fulton, Joseph Holliday, and Sam Wyer''Iranian Strategy in Syria'', Institute for the Study of War, May 2013 The goal was to form an effective, locally based, highly motivated force out of pro-government militias. The NDF, in contrast with the Shabiha forces, received salaries and military equipment from the government. Since the formation of ...
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7th Infantry Division (Syria)
The 7th Mechanized Division () was a mechanized infantry division of the Syrian Arab Army. It was established in 1970. The division was part of the Syrian Army's 1st Corps. Command structure ;7th Mechanized Division (2021) * 88th Mechanized Brigade * 90th Mechanized Brigade * 121st Mechanized Brigade * 78th Armored Brigade * 70th Artillery Brigade Source: Combat history Yom Kippur War The division, formed as 7th Infantry Division, was a key component of the Syrian attack force in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, involved in some of the heaviest fighting in the Golan Heights, especially in the aptly named ' Valley of Tears'. The division, with its attached armoured brigade, lost a great number of tanks when trying on many accounts to rush the Israeli defenses. Brig. Gen. Omar Abrash was serving as the division commander. In 1973, the division's equipment, organisation, tactics, and training were virtually identical to those of the 5th Infantry Division during its action in Jordan. ...
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Syrian Arab Army
The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; ) were the combined armed forces of Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria. The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air Defense Force, Syrian Arab Navy. According to the 2012 Constitution of Syria, the President of Syria was the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Minister of Defence held the position of Deputy Commander-in-chief of the Army and Armed Forces. The SAAF utilized conscription; males served in the military at age 18, but they were exempted from service if they did not have a brother who can take care of their parents. After the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, Syrian military enlisted strength dropped by over half from a pre-civil war figure of 325,000 to 150,000 soldiers in the army in December 2014 due to casualties, desertions and draft dodging, reaching between 178,000 and 220,000 soldiers in the army, in addition to 80,000 t ...
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Ahrar Ash-Sham
Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, was a coalition of multiple Sunni Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian Civil War. Ahrar al-Sham was led by Hassan Aboud until his death in 2014. In July 2013, Ahrar al-Sham had 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, which at the time made it the second most powerful unit fighting against al-Assad, after the Free Syrian Army. It was the principal organization operating under the umbrella of the Syrian Islamic Front and was a major component of the Islamic Front. With an estimated 20,000 fighters in 2015, Ahrar al-Sham became the largest rebel group in Syria after the Free Syrian Army became less powerful. Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam were the main rebel groups supported by Turkey. On 18 February 2018, Ahrar al-Sham merged with the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement to form the Syrian Lib ...
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