18th Armoured Division (Syria)

;18th Armoured Division (2020)

• 131st Armoured Brigade
• 134th Armoured Brigade
• 167th Armoured Brigade
• 120th Mechanized Brigade
• 64th Artillery Regiment

The division was in a reserve role leading up to the summer of 2013. Since then it has been heavily engaged in the Syrian Civil War.

The European Council named Major General Wajih Mahmud as commander of the 18th Armored Division in the Official Journal of the European Union on 15 November 2011, sanctioning him for violence committed in Homs.{{cite web|title=Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2011 of 14 November 2011 implementing Regulation (EU) No 442/2011 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:296:0003:0005:EN:PDF|publisher=Official Journal of the European Union|date=15 November 2011|format=PDF}} Henry Boyd of the IISS noted that "... in Homs, the 18th Armored Division was reinforced by Special Forces units and ... by elements of the 4th Division under Maher’s de facto command."{{cite web|last=Boyd|first=Henry|title=Shades of Hama and Grozny in Homs and Idlib|url=http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-experts-commentary/shades-of-hama-and-grozny-in-homs-and-idlib/|publisher=International Institute for Strategic Studies|date=12 March 2012|access-date=27 January 2014|archive-date=27 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627152103/http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-experts-commentary/shades-of-hama-and-grozny-in-homs-and-idlib/|url-status=dead}}

On 13 August, clashes took place in Deir ez-Zor city in the Rashdin suburb, as army attempted to liberate it from the militants. Rebels earlier attacked the cardiac hospital in the city, no reports of losses. 4 rebels killed by clashes in al-Jbeila, Hawiqa and Sina'a neighborhoods.{{cite web|url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/dozens-of-syrian-soldiers-and-rebels-killed-as-opposition-advances-on-deir-ezzor |title=Dozens of Syrian soldiers and rebels killed as opposition advances on Deir Ezzor, Agence France-Presse |work=The National|location=Abu Dhabi |date=13 August 2013}}

As of 20 August, the western Hawiqa neighborhood, including the local Baath Party headquarters, had fallen to the rebels. The opposition claimed that 160 government soldiers and dozens of rebels had died in the fight for Hawiqa. Government forces retaliated by bombarding the rebels from their positions in the Joura and Ghazi Ayyash districts. The Free Syrian Army-affiliated Ahfad al-Rasul Brigade, recently supplied by Qatar with anti-aircraft missiles, played an important role in taking Hawiqa.{{cite web|last=Yacoub |first=Khaled |url=https://news.yahoo.com/assads-forces-counter-rebel-gains-syrias-deir-al-170238247.html |title=Assad's forces counter rebel gains in Syria's Deir al-Zor – Yahoo News |publisher=Yahoo! News |date=20 August 2013}}

On the same day, the Army hit rebel forces in Hawiqa district with tanks and multiple rocket launchers, and also battled them in territory separating Hawiqa from the district of Joura, opposition sources in the city said. The government was trying to regain Hawiqa because it could not afford the rebels to be so close to its most important stronghold of Joura and the Army camp there. Air force intelligence and military intelligence, two important security compounds in the city, were also located in the nearby Ghazi Ayyash district, and came within the range of rebel rocket-propelled grenades.{{cite web |title=Assad's forces counter rebel gains in Syria's Deir al-Zor |website=Reuters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514015817/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-east-idUSBRE97J0P520130820 |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-status=live |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-east-idUSBRE97J0P520130820}}

Researchers estimated in late 2019 that the 167th Brigade was the last remaining operational brigade of the division.{{cite tweet|number=1167673567359754240|user=GregoryPWaters|title=At least 2 members of the 18th Division have died in #Hama/#Idlib in the past 2 weeks, on 8/16 & today in the captu… |date=31 August 2019}} In addition, "as of November 2018, the division consisted of only 4,000 men — including reservists and civilian employees — largely concentrated within the 167th Brigade".

• National Defense Force
• 17th Reserve Division
• Republican Guard

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Category:Armoured divisions of Syria

Armoured Division

Armoured Division

Category:Military reserve units and formations

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 2024