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National Defence Forces
The National Defense Forces (NDF; Arabic: قوات الدفاع الوطني 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 up of units across various Syrian provinces, each consisting of local volunteers willing to fight against rebels for various reasons.
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.
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 the NDF, Shabiha members have been incorporated into its structure. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has defined Shabiha as the Syrian National Defense Forces.
Young and unemployed men join the NDF, which some view as more attractive than the Syrian Arab Army, considered by many of them to be infiltrated by rebels, overstretched and underfunded. A number of recruits say they joined the group because members of their families had been killed by rebel groups. In some Alawite villages almost every military-age male has joined the National Defense Force.
In 2015, the Syrian government began arming some citizens of the eastern part of Al-Suwayda Governorate against the Syrian Al-Qaeda group Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who were harassing the local population with abductions, executions, and plundering, while using the region as a battlefield. However, the Druze of Suwayda do not represent a significant contingent within the NDF, most of the Druze within the NDF being recruited by the Golan Regiment among the residents of the Golan Heights, Quneitra Governorate, following an agreement between rebels and pro-Assad local fighters in 2013.
The creation of the NDF was personally overseen by Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Syrian security officials stated that they received assistance from Iran and Hezbollah, who both "played a key role in the formalization of the NDF along the model of the Iranian 'Basij' militia". The NDF recruits received training in urban guerilla warfare from Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah instructors at facilities inside Syria, Lebanon, and Iran, with this partnership remaining in place as of April 2015. Iran has contributed to gathering together existing neighborhood militias into a functioning hierarchy and provided them with better equipment and training. The United States government has also stated that Iran is helping build the group on the model of its own Basij militia, and that some members are being sent for training in Iran.
The force acts in an infantry role, directly fighting against rebels on the ground and running counter-insurgency operations in coordination with the Syrian Army, which provides them with logistical and artillery support.
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National Defence Forces
The National Defense Forces (NDF; Arabic: قوات الدفاع الوطني 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 up of units across various Syrian provinces, each consisting of local volunteers willing to fight against rebels for various reasons.
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.
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 the NDF, Shabiha members have been incorporated into its structure. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has defined Shabiha as the Syrian National Defense Forces.
Young and unemployed men join the NDF, which some view as more attractive than the Syrian Arab Army, considered by many of them to be infiltrated by rebels, overstretched and underfunded. A number of recruits say they joined the group because members of their families had been killed by rebel groups. In some Alawite villages almost every military-age male has joined the National Defense Force.
In 2015, the Syrian government began arming some citizens of the eastern part of Al-Suwayda Governorate against the Syrian Al-Qaeda group Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who were harassing the local population with abductions, executions, and plundering, while using the region as a battlefield. However, the Druze of Suwayda do not represent a significant contingent within the NDF, most of the Druze within the NDF being recruited by the Golan Regiment among the residents of the Golan Heights, Quneitra Governorate, following an agreement between rebels and pro-Assad local fighters in 2013.
The creation of the NDF was personally overseen by Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Syrian security officials stated that they received assistance from Iran and Hezbollah, who both "played a key role in the formalization of the NDF along the model of the Iranian 'Basij' militia". The NDF recruits received training in urban guerilla warfare from Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah instructors at facilities inside Syria, Lebanon, and Iran, with this partnership remaining in place as of April 2015. Iran has contributed to gathering together existing neighborhood militias into a functioning hierarchy and provided them with better equipment and training. The United States government has also stated that Iran is helping build the group on the model of its own Basij militia, and that some members are being sent for training in Iran.
The force acts in an infantry role, directly fighting against rebels on the ground and running counter-insurgency operations in coordination with the Syrian Army, which provides them with logistical and artillery support.