Shukri al-Quwatli
Since independence, Syria's police and internal security apparatus have undergone repeated reorganization and personnel changes, reflecting the security demands of each succeeding regime. In 1945, Armenian general Hrant Maloyan was appointed by president Shukri al-Quwatli as the General Command of the Internal Security Forces in Syria and served this position until 1949. Maloyan would eventually be known to modernize the Syrian police ranks and improve discipline; members of the Gendarmerie doubled to 9,751 members by the time his post finished in 1949. On the wake of 1946, the Syrian Gendarmerie was considered the only reliable and effective support of the Government; it was purged and, once equipped by the United Kingdom with modern weaponry, it was successfully deployed to quell a revolt of Alawi religious leader Salman al-Murshid. In late 1940s, the national police force, grown out of the Gendarmerie, was deemed understaffed and poorly disciplined, with several cases of corruption among its ranks. Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli favoured the Gendarmerie over the French-inherited Army, fearing the military might against his own patronage network.