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Foreign Armies in Syria and How They Came to Be There

FILE PHOTO: Cars drive past a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Damascus, Syria, March 7, 2022. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Cars drive past a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Damascus, Syria, March 7, 2022. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
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Foreign Armies in Syria and How They Came to Be There

FILE PHOTO: Cars drive past a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Damascus, Syria, March 7, 2022. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Cars drive past a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Damascus, Syria, March 7, 2022. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo

The resurgence of fighting in Syria has brought into focus the role of foreign powers in the country. Türkiye, Iran, Russia and the United States have all deployed troops in Syria since 2011, while Israel mounts frequent airstrikes in Syrian territory.
Here is some background on the foreign armies in Syria.
TURKIYE
Türkiye has deployed troops across northwestern Syria - territory held by Syrian opposition groups which rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. Türkiye, which firmly supported the 2011 uprising, backs some of these groups.
One of Türkiye’s main goals has been to weaken Syrian Kurdish armed groups which carved out autonomous enclaves along the Turkish border during the civil war. Ankara views the Syrian Kurdish groups an extension of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency in Türkiye since 1984.
Ankara deems the PKK a terrorist group.
Another pressing Turkish concern is securing a return home for some of 3 million Syrians who have fled to Türkiye during the war, many of whom came from the Aleppo region.
Türkiye has mounted four operations in Syria since 2016.
Its first targeted both the ISIS group and the Syrian Kurdish YPG, a Syrian Kurdish faction and the spearhead of another military grouping, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Türkiye’s presence expanded in 2017 when it struck a deal with Russia and Iran that resulted in Turkish forces deploying at 12 positions in the opposition-held northwestern Idlib region.
This was followed in 2018 by an offensive targeting SDF-controlled Afrin, and another incursion in 2019 into SDF territory between the border towns of Ras al Ain and Tel Abyad.
The following year Türkiye poured thousands of troops into the Idlib region to stem an offensive by Russia-backed Syrian government forces targeting opposition factions.
Damascus views Türkiye as an occupying power.
RUSSIA
Russia intervened militarily on Assad's side in 2015, in its biggest foray in the Middle East since the Soviet Union's collapse. Operating from an airbase in Latakia province, Russian air power decisively tilted the conflict Assad's way.
Coordinated with Iran, the deployment expanded a Russian military presence dating to the Cold War, when the Soviet Union established a naval base at the Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartus.
Russian forces have also had a presence on the ground in government-held areas, with Russian military police deploying during attempts to de-escalate fighting.
Russia is continuing to support Assad, the Kremlin has said.
IRAN AND ALLIES
Iran deployed its Revolutionary Guards to Syria as early as 2012 to help Assad. Lebanon's Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, played a big part.
For Iran, Assad is a crucial ally, part of its "Axis of Resistance" to Israel and US influence in the Middle East.
Tehran's ties to Damascus have allowed Iran to spread its influence through a land corridor from its western border via Iraq all the way to Lebanon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in an Arabic-language interview on Dec. 3 that Tehran would consider sending troops to Syria if Damascus asked.
Tehran has always described Iranian forces as playing an advisory role at the Damascus government's invitation.
Alongside Iranians and Lebanon's Hezbollah, other Shi'ite groups backed by Tehran have played a vital combat role. They have included groups from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Hezbollah pulled fighters from Syria back to Lebanon as its war with Israel intensified from mid-October, Reuters has reported. While a ceasefire was reached last week, Hezbollah does not currently intend to send fighters to northern Syria to support the Syrian army, Reuters reported.
The presence of Iranian and Iran-backed forces in Syria has been a big point of concern for Israel, prompting it to carry out frequent airstrikes in Syria.
THE UNITED STATES
The US military intervention in Syria began in 2014 with air strikes against the ISIS group that had declared its rule over a third of Syria and Iraq.
An initially small contingent of US special forces deployed to Syria, working with the SDF, fighting to drive ISIS from areas it had captured in Syria's north and east.
Declaring the battle with ISIS almost won, Trump announced in 2018 he wanted to pull out US troops.
But the plan was softened within a year after facing criticism for leaving a void that Iran and Russia would fill.
US forces remain in Syria and continue to support the SDF.
US military positions and personnel in northeastern Syria remain essential to ensuring ISIS can never resurge, US Ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council on Dec. 3.
US troops are also stationed at Syria's Tanf garrison near the intersection of the borders of Jordan and Iraq, where they support a Syrian opposition force to counter ISIS in the area.
Assad's government views the US forces as occupiers.
About 900 US troops are currently in the country, mostly in the northeast.

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In Final Moments Before Truce, Israeli Strike Kills Lebanese Man’s Family

A woman reacts as emergency personnel search for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike carried out just before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman reacts as emergency personnel search for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike carried out just before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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In Final Moments Before Truce, Israeli Strike Kills Lebanese Man’s Family

A woman reacts as emergency personnel search for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike carried out just before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman reacts as emergency personnel search for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike carried out just before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Hassan Abu Khalil's family miraculously survived six weeks of war in southern Lebanon, but tragedy struck in the final minutes before a ceasefire came into force. An Israeli strike late on Thursday killed 13 of his relatives, leaving him the sole survivor.

Abu Khalil, 36, stepped out to see friends just before midnight, when a US-brokered truce between Lebanon and Israel was meant to halt fighting that had raged since March 2 between Israel and armed group Hezbollah.

“I heard a very powerful strike, and when I came ‌back to the neighborhood, ‌I found this had happened," Abu Khalil told Reuters on ‌Friday ⁠as he watched ⁠a bulldozer dig through the mountains of pulverized concrete that was once his home in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre.

"In this building, more than 13 members of my family are missing under the rubble. What then, Israel? Just before the ceasefire, it was one massacre after another against us," he said.

Later on Friday, Lebanon's state news agency said rescue teams had recovered 13 bodies and pulled 35 wounded survivors from the ruins ⁠of the building that was hit the previous evening. It ‌reported that 15 other people were unaccounted for.

The ‌Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike.

Lebanon's health ministry ‌says 2,294 people have been killed between March 2 and Thursday, when the ‌ceasefire came into force. The toll includes 177 children and 274 women.

'MY FUTURE IS GONE'

On Friday, thousands of Lebanese streamed through Tyre on the way to their southern villages. They crossed over a dirt berm that Lebanese soldiers had erected over the ruins of a main bridge ‌destroyed by Israel earlier on Thursday. Many were relieved to return to their southern villages, even if they were destroyed.

But ⁠Abu Khalil spent ⁠the first day of the ceasefire in a haze of despair, unable to eat or sleep.

He stood wringing his hands next to a bulldozer working through the ruins, his eyes locked on the gaping hole that rescuers were searching.

"Since the strike, I've been here and haven't gone anywhere. Every time they pull someone out, we run over to see what happened, who it is - my friend I grew up with, my friend's mother, my friend's father," Abu Khalil said.

He said he had been living in the United Kingdom but returned to Lebanon to be with his extended family.

"Who is left? No one is left. I wish I had never gone out for that coffee and had stayed with them," he said.

“My future is gone here. This was my life, this was my family - what now? What more is there after this?"

Features

Can Iran Legally Impose Tolls on the Strait of Hormuz?

FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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Can Iran Legally Impose Tolls on the Strait of Hormuz?

FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Tehran has sought to tighten its grip over the Strait of Hormuz by charging tolls on vessels to ensure safe passage, in conjunction with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The following explains law governing toll collections and actions that countries opposed to tolls might take, according to Reuters.

WHAT IS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ?

The Strait of Hormuz is ‌a waterway connecting the Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, and located within Iran's and Oman's territorial waters. It is perhaps the world's most important energy shipping lane. About 20% of the world's oil passes through it.

The waterway is about 104 miles (167 km) long. Its width varies, and at its narrowest point provides 2-mile channels for inbound and outbound shipping, separated by a 2-mile buffer zone.

Iran effectively closed the strait following US-Israeli strikes on the country, and has demanded a right ⁠to collect tolls as a precondition to ending the war. The status of any toll collections so far could not immediately be confirmed.

WHAT LAW GOVERNS PASSAGE ON THE STRAIT?

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, opens new tab, sometimes known as UNCLOS, was adopted in 1982 and has been in force since 1994.

Article 38 provides vessels a right of unimpeded "transit passage" through more than 100 straits worldwide, including the Strait of Hormuz.

The treaty allows a country bordering a strait to regulate passage within its "territorial sea," up to 12 nautical miles from its border, but shall permit "innocent passage."

Passage is innocent if it is not prejudicial to a country's peace, good order and security. Military action, serious pollution, spying and fishing are not permitted. The concept of innocent passage was key to a 1949 International Court ‌of ⁠Justice case concerning the Corfu Channel, along the coasts of Albania and Greece.

Approximately 170 countries and the European Union have ratified UNCLOS. Iran and the United States have not. This raises the question of whether the treaty's rules affording freedom of maritime navigation have become part of customary international law, or bind only ratifying countries.

Experts say UNCLOS has become or is generally viewed as customary international law. Some non-ratifying countries may ⁠argue that they need not follow the treaty because they persistently and consistently object. Iran has argued that it has made such objections. The United States disputes Iran's authority to charge tolls.

HOW CAN TOLLS BE CHALLENGED?

There is no formal mechanism to enforce UNCLOS. The International Tribunal for the Law ⁠of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany, which the treaty established, and the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands could issue rulings but cannot enforce them.

Countries and businesses have other potential means to counteract tolls.

A willing state or coalition of states could ⁠try to enforce the treaty. The UN Security Council could pass a resolution opposing tolls.

Companies could redirect shipments away from the Strait of Hormuz, and have begun doing so. Countries could expand sanctions targeting financial transactions believed to benefit Iran's government, by sanctioning companies willing to pay tolls.

Features

How China’s Weapons Transfers to Iran Have Evolved Over Decades

FILE PHOTO: A member of the People's Liberation Army stands as the strategic strike group displays DF-5C nuclear missiles during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A member of the People's Liberation Army stands as the strategic strike group displays DF-5C nuclear missiles during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
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How China’s Weapons Transfers to Iran Have Evolved Over Decades

FILE PHOTO: A member of the People's Liberation Army stands as the strategic strike group displays DF-5C nuclear missiles during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A member of the People's Liberation Army stands as the strategic strike group displays DF-5C nuclear missiles during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

Washington: David Pierson

For much of the last two decades, China has maintained a delicate balance in its military relationship with Iran, offering often indirect assistance instead of arms sales.

That approach is now drawing renewed attention after US officials said intelligence agencies were assessing whether China may have shipped shoulder-fired missiles to Iran in recent weeks. President Trump has said he would impose an additional 50 percent tariff on Chinese goods if the assessment proves accurate. China has denied the claim, calling it “pure fabrication” and has vowed to “resolutely retaliate” if the Trump administration goes through with tariffs.

The American officials said the information obtained by US intelligence agencies was not definitive. But if proven true, it would be a significant tactical change in the way Beijing supports its closest strategic partner in the Middle East.

Chinese arms sales to Iran exploded in the 1980s and have all but vanished in the last decade to comply with a United Nations embargo and US sanctions. Chinese support for Iran in recent years has instead come in the form of components that could be used in both civilian technologies as well as missiles and drones.

China has a major stake in the crisis in Iran. About a third of its total crude oil imports come from the Arabian Gulf.

Here is how China’s military support for Iran has evolved over the years:

The 1980s: The Boom Years

The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980 coincided with major market reforms in China when the leader at the time, Deng Xiaoping, ordered state-owned companies to wean themselves off government support and instead seek commercial profit.

Chinese state-run defense companies were suddenly empowered to export their wares. That resulted in a deluge of Chinese missiles, fighter jets, tanks, armored vehicles and assault rifles being sold to Iran starting in 1982 and peaking in 1987, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

At the same time, China sold even more arms to Iraq, resulting in a situation in which the two warring sides clashed with each other using the same Chinese weapons.

The Reagan administration opposed China’s arms sales to Iran, particularly Silkworm anti-ship cruise missiles. Tehran used the missiles in attacks in Kuwaiti waters in 1987 that struck an American-owned tanker and an American-registered tanker.

The United States responded by curbing exports of some high-technology products to China. China denied selling arms directly to Iran, but said it would do more to prevent its military exports from reaching Iran through intermediaries.

The 1990s: Technology Transfers

Following the war, Iran set out to develop its own military-industrial base with the help of China. One of its key products was the Noor anti-ship cruise missile, which had been reverse-engineered through purchases of Chinese C-802 cruise missiles.

“China played a major role in supporting Iran’s military modernization for decades, especially in developing Iran’s missile capabilities,” said Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Iran also received help from China in building missile-production facilities and even in constructing a missile test range east of Tehran, wrote Bates Gill, a longtime China expert, in the Middle East Review of International Affairs.

Under US pressure to curtail its sale of finished weapons, particularly missiles, to Iran, China began increasing exports of machine tools and components that could be used for both military and civilian purposes.

The 2000s to the Present: Dual-Use Technologies

In 2006, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. China voted in favor of the resolution and largely pivoted away from new, formal arms contracts with Tehran.

The shift was as much about regional strategy as it was about international law. Starting in the mid-2010s, China began deepening its strategic relationships with Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Qatar.

China continued to supply Iran with dual-use technologies and materials that have helped it amass an arsenal of missiles and drones.

That included chemicals used to produce fuel for ballistic missiles and components for drones, such as radio frequency connectors and turbine blades.

But Mr. Hart said China was still “a critical form of support, given Iran’s reliance on ballistic missiles and drones to attack US and Israeli forces and other countries in the region.”

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned Chinese and Hong Kong front companies it says were set up to source parts and ingredients for ballistic missiles and drones for Iran.

Suspicions are also growing that Iran is using its access to China’s BeiDou satellite navigation system, an alternative to the US-owned Global Positioning System, for military purposes. Last month, a US congressional agency said BeiDou may have been used to direct Iran’s drone and missile strikes across the Middle East.

The New York Times