Syrian Navy

Syrian Arab Navy البحرية العربي السوري
Flag of the Syrian Arab Navy
Active	1946
Country	Syria
Type	Navy
Role	Naval warfare
Size	Foreign suppliers:   Russia  Iran
Part of	Syrian Armed Forces
Garrison/HQ	Damascus
Commanders
President of Syria	Bashar al-Assad
Minister of Defense	Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij
Chief of Naval Staff	Vice Admiral Muhamad Al-Ahmad

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.^[1]

During the Yom Kippur War (1973 Arab–Israeli War) the Israeli Navy sank five Syrian naval ships without a loss during the Battle of Latakia. As a result, the Syrian Navy remained in port for the rest of the conflict.^[2]

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 three-fourths of its $13.4 billion Soviet-era debt and became its main arms supplier, the two countries have conducted talks about allowing Russia to develop and enlarge its naval base, so that Russia can strengthen its naval presence in the Mediterranean.^[3] Amid Russia's deteriorating relations with the West, because of the 2008 Russo-Georgian 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.^[4] Since 2009, Russia has been renovating the Tartus naval base and dredging the port to allow access for its larger naval vessels.^[5]

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.^[6]

Equipment

Petya class frigate

• Submarines
  • 2 Romeo-class submarines (inactive).
• Frigates: 2 Petya III^[7]
  • 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^[8]

 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)^[9]

 USSR M1954 (M-46)

References

1. "Syrian Arab Navy". GlobalSecurity.org.
2. "The Battle of Latakia". Jewish Virtual Library.
3. Weitz, Richard (2010). Global security watch--Russia : a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger Security International. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-313-35434-2.
4. "Big Russian flotilla led by Admiral Kuznetsov carrier heads for Syrian port". DEBKAfile. 21 August 2008. Archived from the original on 23 August 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
5. "INSS: Syria Report" (PDF). Institute for National Security Studies. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
6. "Syrian 'warships shell port city of Latakia'". Al Jazeera. 14 August 2011.
7. "Petya Class - Project 159". GlobalSecurity.org.
8. C-802 in Syria 7/7/2012 (video)
9. "Syria Receives More Russian SS-N-26 Yakhont Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles". May 18, 2013.