3rd Corps (Syria)

The 3rd Corps (Arabic: الفيلق الثالث) is a corps of the Syrian Army that was first formed in 1985. Richard Bennett wrote in 2001 that "three corps were formed 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 1982 Lebanon War."^[4] The 3rd Corps HQ was in Aleppo, based in the north and covered Hama, the Turkish and Iraqi borders, the Mediterranean coastline and was tasked with protecting the complex of chemical and biological warfare and missile production and launch facilities.^[2] On 30 December 2023, Major General Ahmed Moalla was named as commander of the 3rd Corps.

3rd Corps
الفيلق الثالث
Syrian Armed Forces Flag
Active	1985 – present[1]
Country	Syria
Allegiance	Syrian Armed Forces
Branch	Syrian Army
Type	Corps
Size	up to 45,000 soldiers[2]
Garrison/HQ	Aleppo Al-Qutayfah (3rd Division)[2] Hama (8th Division) Homs (11th Division, Border Guard) Deir ez-Zor (17th Division) Aleppo (18th Division)
Engagements	Syrian Civil War
Commanders
Current Commander	Maj. Gen. Ahmed Moalla
Chief of Staff	Maj. Gen. Mohammad Nayouf[3]

Structure in 2001

• 2nd Reserve Armored Division
  • 14th and 15th Armored Brigades
  • 19th Mechanized Brigade
• Coastal Defense Brigade
  • Other units under the control of this corps included four independent infantry brigades, one border guard brigade, one independent armored regiment, effectively a brigade group, and one special forces regiment.

Structure in 2013

• 3rd Armored Division
  • 47th, 65th and 81st Armored Brigades^[2]
  • 21st Mechanized Brigade
  • 155th Artillery Regiment^[5]
• 11th Armored Division
  • 60th and 67th Armored Brigades^[2]
  • 87th Mechanized Brigade
  • 135th Artillery Regiment^[5]
• 17th Division (HQ Deir ez-Zor)
  • 137th Mechanized Brigade
  • 93rd Armoured Brigade^[6]
• 18th Armoured Division (HQ Aleppo)^[7]
  • 131st, 134th and 167th Armoured Brigades
  • 120th Mechanized Brigade
  • 64th Artillery Regiment

Structure in 2019

• 3rd Armored Division
  • 20th, 65th and 81st Armored Brigades^[8]
  • 21st Mechanized Brigade
  • 155th Missile Brigade^[9]
  • 14th and 67th Artillery Regiments^{[9] [5]}
• 8th Armored Division (formed in 2015)^[10]
  • 33rd and 47th Armored Brigades^[11][12]
  • 45th Mechanized Brigade
  • 45th Artillery Regiment
• 11th Armored Division^[13]
  • 60th and 67th Armored Brigades^[6]
  • 87th Mechanized Brigade^[14]
  • 89th and 135th Artillery Regiments^[5]
• 17th Reserve Division
  • 137th Mechanized Brigade
  • 93rd Armoured Brigade
  • 54th Special Forces Regiment^[6]
  • 121st and 123rd Artillery Regiments^[6]
• 18th Armored Division^[7]
  • 131st, 134th and 167th Armored Brigades
  • 120th Mechanized Brigade
  • 64th Artillery Regiment
• Border Guard Forces^[15]
  • 5th Regiment (Hasakah pocket)
  • 6th Regiment (Southern Homs)
  • 8th Regiment (Jordan-Syria border)
  • 10th Regiment (Iraq-Syria border)
  • 11th Regiment (Latakia)
  • 12th Regiment (Manbij and Ayn al-Arab)
  • Unknown Regiment (likely Lebanon-Syria border)
  • 87th Battalion (Talkalakh)

References

1. Samuel M. Katz, Arab Armies of the Middle East Wars, Osprey Publishing Men-at-Arms 194, 1988, 13.
2. Gregory Waters (18 July 2019). "The Lion and The Eagle: The Syrian Arab Army's Destruction and Rebirth". Middle East Institute. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
3. Gregory Waters (28 March 2024). "Mohammad Nayouf now chief of staff of 3rd Corps (fmr commander 18th Div, Deir Ez Zor Sec Committee, & multiple SRG regiments). Adam Fayyad takes command of 18th Div (fmr 131st Brig commander)". Twitter. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
4. Richard M. Bennett, The Syrian Military: A Primer, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, August/September 2001.
5. Cooper 2015, p. 18.
6. Gregory Waters (20 November 2019). "Return to the northeast: Syrian Army deployments against Turkish forces". Middle East Institute. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
7. Cooper 2015, p. 13, 18-19.
8. Gregory Waters (20 November 2022). "Tel Rifaat #Aleppo - one 3rd Div soldier & 5 local militia-men Darbasiyah #Hasakah - 3 soldiers killed from 20th Brigade/3rd Div". Twitter. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
9. Gregory Waters (27 July 2019). "3rd Division's artillery regiment is the 14th (the 155th is an affiliated missile brigade)". Twitter. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
10. Gregory Waters (12 March 2019). "Understanding Syria's Military Deployments in Idlib". International Review. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
11. Gregory Waters (17 July 2019). "Started as 3rd Division, got moved to 11th Division early on and then got shifted to the new 8th Division. It's got a weird shared custody between 8th and 11th now". Twitter. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
12. Leith Fadel (22 March 2017). "Syrian Army reinforcements arrive to northern Hama to fend off jihadist offensive". al-Masdar News. Archived from the original on 21 February 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
13. "Syria's Nusra seizes tanks, APCs from Assad's army". Middle East Eye. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
14. "Syrian commandos begin long campaign to Jisr Al-Shughour". 20 February 2016. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
15. Gregory Waters (25 September 2019). "Syria's Border Guards: From Auxiliary to Frontlines". Retrieved 14 October 2023.

Notes

• Cooper, Tom (2015). Syrian Conflagration: The Civil War 2011–2013. Middle East@War Volume 1. Helion & Co. ISBN 978-1-910294-10-9.