Syrian Air Force The Syrian Air Force ( , " Al Quwwat al - Jawwiyah al Arabiya as - Souriya " ) is the Aviation branch of the Syrian Armed Forces . It was established in 1948 . Land based air defense systems are grouped under the Syrian Air Defense Force , which split from both the Air Force and the Army . History . The end of World War II led to a withdrawal of the United Kingdom and France from the Middle East , and this included a withdrawal from Syria . In 1948 , the Syrian Air Force was officially established after the first class of pilots graduated from flight schools in the United Kingdom . The embryonic force saw limited participation in the 1948 Arab - Israeli War , conducting bombing raids against Israeli forces and settlements . One North American Harvard was lost to ground fire while attacking Ayelet Hashahar on 16 July , and another possibly shot down by Morris Mann ( flying an Avia S - 199 ) on 10 June . The Syrian Air Force claimed its sole kill of the war on 10 July when a Harvard supposedly shot down an Avia S - 199 flown by Lionel Bloch . Military governments formed after the war sought to bolster the air force , which began equipping with Fiat G . 59 s , ex - Egyptian Macchi C . 205 s and Supermarine Spitfire Mk 22s . In September 1952 the SAF received its first jet aircraft , the Gloster Meteor F . 8 . Additional Meteors , including the NF . 13 night fighting variant , were delivered by the mid - 1950s . The 1950s also saw Syria and Egypt attempt to unify as the United Arab Republic , and this was reflected in the Syrian Air Force with growth in personnel and aircraft . The union did not last . With the ascent to power of the Baath Party and Hafez Al - Assad , himself a former SAF Commander - in - chief , Syria began looking to the members of the Warsaw Pact for help and built closer ties with the USSR . This in turn led to a huge influx of Eastern - made equipment to the Syrian Armed Forces , including the Air Force . In 1955 Syria placed an order for 25 MiG - 15 s , including several MiG - UTI conversion trainers . These were shipped to Alexandria and assembled at the Egyptian air base at Almazah , where Syrian pilots and technicians were trained to operate the aircraft . The fighters were at Almazah when the Suez Crisis broke out and several were destroyed on the ground by British and French air strikes . On 6 November 1956 , a Syrian Meteor shot down an Royal Air Force Canberra PR . 7 monitoring activity at SAF bases . One Meteor was lost after another attempted intercept , the pilot and future president of Syria , Hafez al - Assad , crashing his aircraft while attempting to land in the dark . Sixty MiG - 17 s were ordered at the end of 1956 and Syrian pilots were dispatched to the USSR and Poland for training . The first aircraft arrived in January 1957 and by the end of the year two MiG - 17 squadrons were defending the capital from their base at Damasucus ' Mezzeh Military Airport . In the Six - Day War , the Syrian Air Force lost two - thirds of its forces with the rest retreating to bases in remote parts of Syria . This in turn helped the IDF in defeating the Syrian Army on the ground and led to the occupation of the Golan Heights . The Yom Kippur War provided initial success for both Syria and Egypt , though again Israel inflicted more casualties in the air than it endured . During the 1982 Lebanon War , the Syrian Air Force fought the Israeli Air Force in the one among the largest air - to - air combat of the jet age , involving approximately 150 aircraft from both sides . In six days ( 6 – 11 June 1982 ) of intense aerial combat , Syrian and Russian sources admit the loss of 24 MiG - 23 s ( 6MF , 4MS and 14BN ) , while shooting down no Israeli aircraft . Russian and Syrian sources continue to claim a modicum of success against Israeli aircraft in this conflict , but have been unable to provide any justification for their claims . Israel claims the destruction of 85 Syrian MiGs . However , at low altitude the Syrian Air Force effectively used Aerospatiale Gazelle helicopters in anti - armour role against advancing Israeli ground forces . In one such engagement , an Israeli tank column was stopped for some hours by SAF Gazelle missile strikes while approaching Ein Zehalta . Since the Lebanon War , the Syrian Air Force has attempted to procure Russian - made aircraft , but the full extent of this refurbishment is not known , nor are the exact numbers of planes or what types of aircraft are being supplied to the Air Force . This uncertainty is due to the degree of secrecy maintained by the Syrian government with regard to its military . It is known , however , that the Syrians have procured MiG - 29 s and Su - 24 s , which should give its Air Force a major improvement , although a rumour regarding the purchase of Su - 27 s that circulated in the 2010s has proven to be unfounded . In 2008 the Syrian Air Force was reportedly taking deliveries of 8 examples of the MiG - 31 E from Russia , as well as the MiG - 29SMT and Yak - 130 , although delivery of the MiG - 31s may have been cancelled by Russia due to pressure from Western governments . Syrian civil war . During the initial phase of the Syrian civil war , up to mid - 2012 , the Syrian Air Force was involved in secondary roles , with no firing from aircraft and helicopters . The situation changed on March 22 , 2012 , with an escalation in the use of airpower by loyalist forces , starting with armed Mi - 8 and Mi - 17 helicopter gunships firing rockets and machine guns . The airwar escalated further in mid June 2012 , with the use of Mi - 24 / 25 attack helicopters capable of dropping 250 kg aerial bombs , while the transport helicopters started dropping barrel bombs , essentially aerial IEDs . On July 24 , 2012 , the first attack sorties by fixed wing aircraft were reported by the rebels and recorded on video : initially L - 39 COIN armed trainers began using rockets , bombs and gun pods , but they were quickly joined by MiG - 21s and MiG - 23s . It took some other weeks before more advanced Su - 22 dedicated strike aircraft joined the fight . In November 2012 , the first Su - 24 medium bombers were filmed dropping their heavy payload on the rebels . In December 2012 , conventionally armed Scud missiles and other similar ballistic missiles were fired against rebel positions . Insurgents counter the Syrian Air Force mainly using truck mounted , medium and heavy machine guns , dedicated antiaircraft cannons , small arms fire and starting in late 2012 , MANPADS up to modern Russian and Chinese designs . In the same timeframe of the escalation in the use of the Syrian Air Force by the government , the insurgents increased the number of anti - aircraft equipment , overtaking different air defense sites and warehouses while receiving shipments of Chinese and Russian sourced material from external sponsors . An overall improvement in accuracy was observed too . This led to several Syrian Air Force jets and helicopters being shot down starting from August 2012 . Since insurgents besieged many airports , a high number of downed aircraft was recorded during take - off or landing . Also , many land raids and shelling of airbases led to an increasing number of aircraft and helicopters being damaged or destroyed on the ground . In spite of occasional shoot - downs , however , the Syrian Air Force remained largely unchallenged with a good overall combat efficiency and a superior fear factor recognized by the rebels themselves . While increasing proficiency in the use of short range air defense systems , the rebels were not able to make any other bigger air defense system work , despite their ranks being composed of many defected soldiers . Captured Shilka SPAAG were used in ground support , but they were seldom filmed in their air defense role , while there is no confirmed record of use of any captured missile based defense system apart from visual MANPADS : in summer 2013 , rebels claimed they started using at least one of the captured 9K33 Osa antiaircraft missile vehicles , showing blurry videos presumed to come from inside the vehicle while firing at regime helicopters . Compared to modern Western air forces fighting against similarly armed enemies , like in Iraq and Afghanistan , the Syrian Air Force main disadvantage is the low to nil number in small guided weapons which allow the aircraft to fly out of range of small arms fire , AAA and MANPADS , while delivering a precise strike minimizing collateral damage and allowing different targets of opportunity to be hit during the same mission . The Syrian pilots are forced to spend most of the time at low to medium altitude where battlefield threats have their best efficiency . Based on the aircraft type , Syrian pilots use different attack techniques to deliver their unguided munitions : while L - 39s use dive attack tactics , all the other types involved are generally performing a low to medium altitude bombing run at high speed deploying a sequence of flare thermal decoys to defend against IR homing missiles and pulling up after ordnance delivery . Instead helicopters are flying at high altitude for a helicopter , minimizing their tactical effect , while increasing collateral damage . Mi - 24 / 25 gunships were observed delivering decoy flares too . Since the Syrian Air Force frequently attacks opposition fighters with helicopter gunships and warplanes aiming at populated areas with unguided weaponry , the bombings normally cause collateral damage to the civilian population and infrastructure . In July 2012 at the Farnborough Air Show it was announced that Russia would not deliver any new aircraft including the MiG - 29M / M2s and Yak - 130s while there was still a crisis in Syria , but it would still respect any previous refurbishment and maintenance contracts such as the Mi - 25s . With the start of aerial operations by the Syrian Air Force , in August 2012 , intelligence experts assessed that the Syrian Air Force was suffering significant technical difficulties , resulting in less than half of the air force ' s best counterinsurgency aircraft such as the Mi - 25 Hind - D being available at any given time . An increased number of conflict fronts and severe maintenance burdens dramatically worsened the situation which was probably critical already before the beginning of the civil war . These problems were thought by experts to account for initial start in the use of L - 39ZA ( attack variant ) jets in a combat role by the government , before further escalations . Aircraft losses . According to the Syrian Revolution General Commission ( SRGC ) since the conflict began the Syrian military lost 37 helicopters and 24 jets . 40 aircraft were shot down , and 21 were destroyed in opposition attacks on military airports . According to Strategy Page , nearly a hundred fixed wing and over a hundred helicopters have been lost . Some 400 aircrew was killed , captured , or missing . Organization . The Air Force command consists of : Air bases . Led by jihadist fighters from the Al - Nusra Front and an Ahrar al - Sham battalion , Syrian rebels overran Taftanaz Air Base during the second week in January , 2013 . Markings . The roundel used by the Syrian Air Force has the same basic design as that used by the Egyptian Air Force . It consists of three concentric circles , with a red outer , white middle and black inner . The unique part of the Syrian roundels is the presence of two green stars in the white circle , which is reflective of the two stars on the national flag . The fin flash is also an image of the flag . Pre Syrian civil war aircraft inventory . Due to the high security level on everything military the past and the present of the Syrian Arab Air Force is still largely unknown . This makes it hard to judge the real strength of the air force today . Additionally , considerable losses to the opposition forces in the country ' s ongoing civil war are not accounted for here . The following information is compiled from multiple pre 2012 Syrian civil war sources .