What Happened to the Legendary Syrian Army?

It used to be that the Syrian Army was feared by friends and foes of Syria’s Assad family. Any Arab, anywhere, at the mere mention of the legendary Syrian Army, would shower it with praise.

As Assad told us, it used to be the second largest Arab Army boasting 400,000 ready soldiers.

As Assad told us, it used to be that the Assad Syrian Air Force could scramble 400 military jets and could mobilize 4,000 tanks.

As Assad told us, it used to be that the Syrian Army could marshal 8,000 pieces of heavy artillery and fire some 100,000 rockets and missiles.

But the legend the Assad propaganda constructed about the prowess of its legendary Syrian Army was as cartoonish as the Assad regime is. The Israelis found out in June of 1967, but the Arabs never dawned on them that the legendary Syrian Army was all talk and no action.

Today, the Syrian Army cannot even liberate Darrya, a suburb of Damascus, from a bunch of ill-trained rag-tag rebels.

What happened to the legendary Syrian Army?

Even if half of its soldiers died fighting or defected to the other side, where are the remaining 200,000 soldiers from the legendary Syrian Army?

Even if it lost half its tanks to the sophisticated TOW’s missiles, what happened to the other 2,000 tanks of the legendary Syrian Army?

Even if half of its heavy artillery pieces were lost in battles or captured as spoils of war, where are the other artillery pieces of the legendary Syrian Army?

Even if it fired 50,000 rockets and missiles, which it did not, what happened to the other 50,000 rockets and missiles the legendary Syrian Army claims to own?

Instead, the Syrian Army turned out to have thousands of barrel bombs whose only purpose is to kill civilians. Not Israelis. Not Americans. But Syrian civilians.

Could Hezbollah be following in the same path?

Could Hezbollah be overly exaggerating its military prowess the way the Syrian Army did?

Some say Syria no longer exists. Maybe they say it because the Syrian Army no longer exists or never existed in the first place.

It is hard to imagine, now that Russia and Iran are fully occupying parts of Syria, what happened to the Syrian Army except maybe the naysayers are right: It never existed. Or maybe, it was just a mere fable.

Now we come to find out it was all a ruse. It was all a concoction to scare Arabs and Syrians alike.

It was all an imaginary Syrian Army whose barrel bombs were paraded as military jets, heavy artillery, tanks, and rockets.

This legendary Syrian Army reminds us of Le Malade Imaginaire of Molière with one exception. It is really an invalid.