Al-Sharaa’s army will reveal what his new Syria really is
Israel’s Aug. 18 strike on the Abu al-Duhur military air base in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, not far from the Turkish border, should not be viewed as just another episode in the increasingly tense relationship between Israel and Turkey. It exposed a much more important question about the state that the new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is building.Israeli officials said the strike followed intelligence indicating that Turkey was preparing to deploy military personnel, radar and air-defense capabilities at the base. Ankara and Damascus denied that a permanent Turkish deployment was planned, although Syrian officials acknowledged that a Turkish delegation had visited the facility shortly before the strike.The dispute over exactly what Turkey intended to place at Abu al-Duhur will continue. But the larger development is already clear: Syria’s military reconstruction is moving beyond speeches, ceremonies and new uniforms. Air bases are being rehabilitated, foreign military cooperation is expanding and the…
The reconstruction of Syria's military under President Ahmed al-Sharaa is revealing the true nature of his new state, according to a JNS analysis. Recent events, including an Israeli strike on the Abu al-Duhur air base, the graduation of over 1,000 personnel from Syria’s air force academy, and incidents involving Syrian soldiers chanting antisemitic threats, highlight concerns about the military's ideology and control. The article questions whether al-Sharaa is genuinely transforming armed movements into a professional national military or merely institutionalizing existing extremist ideologies. Incidents like the massacre of Alawite civilians and killings of Druze civilians by government forces further raise doubts about al-Sharaa's control over forces operating in his name. The author states, "No institution will reveal more about the future of al-Sharaa’s Syria than the army he is building."
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